


Old, new tales

by heavensweetheart



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: After the Rain, Agni Kai, Alternate Universe, Aurora Borealis, Blood moon, Caught Undressed, Chemistry, Crown, Dao Swords, Demisexual Zuko, Don’t Hurt Him/Her, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fake Dating, Family Shenanigans, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Forced to share a hotel room, Heartbeat, Intimacy, Is it smut if only one of them loses their clothes?, Kissing, Momtara and Dadko, POV First Person, Partners in Crime, Power Couple, Scars, Season 4 Zutara, Slow Burn, Soulmates, The Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, You’re in love with him/her, Zutara Month, Zutara Month 2020, ancient, balance, dragon - Freeform, eclipse - Freeform, fairytale, folktale, rainstorm, southern water tribe culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 46,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22515973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavensweetheart/pseuds/heavensweetheart
Summary: A series of loosely interconnected one shots for each prompt of the Zutara Month.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 118
Collections: Zutara Month 2020





	1. Secret Heroes (The Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady)

**Author's Note:**

> Because nothing says “bonding” like dressing up as spirits and destroying a factory. A re-telling of the events in "The Painted Lady" featuring Zuko/The Blue Spirit.

**Zuko**

“Aang, get out of the water! The Jang Hui is the most polluted river in the Fire Nation!”

I wonder if he can hear me underneath the surface.

Then he airbends himself and Momo up to Appa’s saddle, both dripping in mud and suspicious-looking substances next to me: “Hey, guys, I think this river’s polluted.”

“No joke, detective Avatar,” I say dryly. And I suppose I deserve the mud his airbending splatters into me for saying it. “Puag! Plag! That got inside my _mouth_! Puag!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, friends,” he says before using some more airbending for taking the mud off from Katara, Toph and me, and send it back into the river.

“Well,” Sokka says, “that explains why I can’t catch a fish around here, because normally my fishing skills are off the hook!”

I sigh. (Not this again.)

“Get it?,” he continues, “Like a fishing hook?”

“Too bad your skills aren’t _on_ the hook.” Toph, Aang, Katara and I laugh at Toph’s own counter joke.

“I think we’ll have to get food somewhere else,” I observe looking down to the greenish brown waters.

“Assuming that’ll fit into Sokka’s master schedule,” Katara points out while Sokka unrolls his trusty scroll until it almost falls off from Appa.

“Hmmm… It’s doable,” he agrees, “but that means only two potty breaks today.”

“Hey, maybe we can get food there!”

Aang points to a mysterious archaic village on river.

***

“Why is this village in the middle of a river, Zuko?” Katara asks me once we approach the border of a hill for a better view.

“I don’t know,” I admit, “I didn’t even know there was a village around here.”

“You mean you don’t even _know_ your own country?,” she retorts.

I frown at her. “Well, _forgive_ me for not ordering a palanquin ride around these parts.”

“Where is it exactly?,” Toph asks.

“Right in the middle of the river,” Sokka points to it.

“Sure is!”

We all look down at the sound of that last mysterious voice. I, on my part, better accommodate my dark hood over my face.

“My name is Dock,” an old, raggedy man standing on a ferry introduces himself to us, “Mind if I ask who you are?”

“We’re… um…,” Katara stutters, looking at the rest of us for a possible getaway, “from the Earth Kingdom colonies.”

“Wow… Colonials!,” the man is in awe of us, “Hop on, I give you ride in the town.”

***

So far Mysterious-Village-Which’s-Name-I-Never-Even-Knew doesn’t seem to have the Fire Nation’s standard rich quality of life. It’s baffling. It remembers me a little of the Lower Ring in Ba Sing Se. Or even worse because not even there the majority of the people walked around semi-undressed.

It’s disappointing.

“Why does the village looks so poor?” I ask Dock while we look around the deteriorated houses.

“Hey, where are your manners?,” Katara scolds me. (She _lives_ for scolding me.) “That’s not something nice to ask!”

“It’s alright,” Dock concedes. “We were a fishing town, until the factory moved in,” he points to the Agung Factory not so far in the distance. I recognize it immediately, I used to hear about it all the time while at the Palace. “Army makes their metal there. Moved in a few years ago and started gunking up our river. Now our little village is struggling to survive.”

Even with all of our “butting heads” ever since I joined the group, Katara and I can’t help but exchange a sad look at that last line.

**Katara**

“Well, that’s all for the tour,” Dock announces, “Go have fun around! Make sure to buy something to eat at the market!”

“Thanks for the tour, Dock,” Zuko says from besides me with a smile that even _I_ have to admit looks very nice.

“No problem, love-birds,” Dock tells us, “Make sure to buy something for your girlfriend on the store, buddy!”

(He called me Zuko’s _what_ now?)

“He’s not my – !”

“She’s not my – !”

“See you later, colonial friends!” Dock exits waving at us.

_Urgh!_

We walk around the town a bit more, getting a look at the poorly kept surroundings.

It’s almost cringe-worthy to step on these floors of such rotten, wet and smelly wood covered by fungus; and I don’t think said wood can hold much weight on this conditions. All of the houses are on the brink of falling apart, but it doesn’t looks like people actually sleep on them. Or at least not in _all_ of them. Apparently they gather in the cleanest houses to sleep without exposing themselves too much to the unhealthy conditions.

And all of the people just looks so frail and malnourished and…

I embrace myself, “Look at this place. It’s so _sad_. We _have_ to do something to help.”

“No,” Sokka is the one to answer me, “we can’t waste our time here.”

“Waste of our time?,” I cry out, disbelieving at my own brother’s insensitivity.

“We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on,” he says. “These people are on their own.”

“How can you even say that? These people are _starving_! How can you be so cold and heartless?”

“I’m just being _realistic_ , Katara. We can’t go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into.”

“Well…” Zuko cuts in, still studying the poor buildings, “Maybe not _every_ town, but we _could_ make an effort to help this one.”

“See that, Sokka?” I say, raising my chin triumphantly, not even caring that _Zuko_ – of _all_ people, for Spirits sake! – is my only backup. “Zuko’s on my side!”

“We’ll be helping them by taking out the Fire Lord.”

“Hey!” Zuko calls out at the mention of his father.

“Listen, loud mouths,” Toph comes along with him, “Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about ‘taking out the Fire Lord’. Though, I’m sure Sparky would prefer to take the hood off his eyes to stop crashing against stuff.”

“I have gotten better at that,” Zuko defends himself. Before turning around and crashing against a poll.

Sokka takes the chance to continue to dissuade me, “Come on, Katara, be reasonable about this. You know our mission has to come first.”

“I don’t want our mission to come first if that means we have to give our back to the people that needs us!”

“Katara, this is not about what we _want_. It’s about what we _have_ to do. You remember the whole ‘stopping the war, saving the world’ thing, right?”

“Ugh! Whatever!”

I stomp away from my thoughtless brother, not even caring where am I heading to in an unknown village.

Is not like I have many chances of getting lost, the village is just _too_ small.

And Sokka doesn’t let us help them!

He’s an idiot! He’s a jerk! – (No, _Zuko’s_ a jerk.) – Then Sokka is dumbass! All men are the same!

I only stop my dramatic exit when I get to the shore at the opposite side of the town, and I sit on the border with my legs hanging down. Still careful to not let my feet get dirty with the sludge-covered water, of course. (Stupid pollution!)

“Katara?”

I turn at the sound of my name.

And turn back frowning when I see who it is.

“What do you want, Zuko?,” I ask.

“We have been looking for you. We already bought the food that we need, it’s time to go.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Sure. Leave this village behind with their problems. I already heard Sokka’s plan.”

“Maybe he has a point in all of this, you know. We’ll help the village more by defeating the Fire Lord and stopping the war.”

“And in the meantime they will be starving,” I conclude for him. “Great plan. Not.”

“Katara, be practical in this...”

“Don’t tell me what to do!”

“Okay.” He raises his hands in surrender.

I turn away again, just glancing at him shortly through the corner of my eye when he sits next to me.

“So what’s your plan then? Staying here brooding until we agree to stay help the village?”

“Yes,” I admit.

“I see. And how, exactly, are we going to solve the problems in here? We don’t even have a way to reestablish these people resources.”

“We could share some of the other food that we have with them,” I offer. “We always save fruits and vegetables for Aang’s vegetarian meals.”

“But we don’t have all that much food ourselves to be sharing with many people,” Zuko argues. His voice surprisingly understanding, so much that I can’t bring myself to be angry at his (valid) claim.

“What about if we simply look for more ways for them to get food? There are miles of open fields around here, we could show them how to plant their own food.”

“Yeah, but this place is already polluted, I don’t think the earth is all that fertile. And even if it was, the plants would die with the heavy smoke of the factory and the dirty water of the river.”

I look at said factory like it has personally wronged me. The conduits continue to cough dense, heavily black smoke even in front of the force of my stare.

“Why is an army factory in these fields anyways?,” I wonder.

“Because the grounds of this area are very rich in natural resources like iron and copper. Since the army found out, they have been exploiting them for weapons and armors for the war.”

I glare at Zuko. “Oh, so you have been _exploiting_ it.”

He yanks his hood off from his face for looking me in the eye. His own golden eyes are bright with anger and annoyance. “It’s _them_. You can’t possibly blame this one _me_ , too.”

“Forgive me for relating the war with you, _son of the Fire Lord_.”

I can hear the letters of my name coming out through his clenched teeth. “ _Katara_ …”

“Weren’t you on my side in this just a moment ago? You could prove so by fighting harder for us to stay aid this town. A good way of winning my friendship would be supporting me on things like this.”

“So now you want me to _buy_ your friendship.”

“It’s not ‘buying’, it’s earning. Trust is something you _earn_.”

“By doing what _you_ want.”

“You’re not listening to me!”

“Really? I’m not?”

“Forget it!,” I stand up hurriedly. “Where’s the ferry?

“Katara, wait,” Zuko stands up too to follow me.

 _I just told you to not tell me what to do_ , I think at him but say nothing, I get the feeling that the less I talk to Zuko, the better.

It does not take me long for finding Aang, Sokka and Toph, with Zuko close behind me and I’m received with a “Do you mind carrying this?” from Toph, who then puts a basket with putrid fish spilling mucus on my arms.

“What is this?,” I cry out in this disgust.

“Our food,” Sokka looks disgruntled. “At least they look better than the clams. Now let’s go catch up with Dock – Xu – Whatever his name is.”

As soon as I walk to follow the others, I feel a tiny hand yanking my elbow.

“Excuse me,” a raggedy little boy with a scar on his shoulder says to me. “Can you spare some food?”

Immediately I give him one of the semi-healthy-looking fishes in the basket. “I wish I could help more,” I admit, both to him and to myself.

He looks content with only the fish and bows to me respectfully before running away to one of the higher levels of the town, where a young woman, but with grayish skin is resting.

“That was really nice from you, Katara.” I recognize Zuko’s voice next to me.

I just hum dignifying and walk past him.

**Zuko**

One time, Azula tried to wake me up with a Tsugi Horn out of tune... it still sounded better than Appa’s groans this morning.

Aang, Toph and I run to him and Katara, who’s watching over Appa as he cries. “What’s the matter, Katara?,” Aang asks.

“I think Appa’s sick.”

Sokka wakes up with a start from Appa’s discarded saddle. “ _What?_ Appa’s sick? That’s awful!”

“Wow, Sokka,” I exclaim, “I didn’t realize you cared so much.”

“Of course I care!,” he counters, “I might as well just throw our schedule away now!”

As he pulls out and studies his schedule, I take a glance at the group looking at him. “Um… Sokka?”

He only lifts his gaze enough to see Katara, Aang and Toph giving him the evil-eye. “And I’m concerned because my big, furry friend doesn’t feel well!,” he says as he nuzzles at Appa’s side.

“Nice save, pal,” I mutter.

“Appa must have gotten sick from being in the polluted water,” Toph deduces.

“He doesn’t looks sick,” Aang says thoughtfully as he studies Appa. “Are you okay, buddy?”

Appa groans once more opening his mouth wide open, enough for us to see his massive tongue colored purple. A little grossed out and only slightly bewildered by my own actions, I pull it out to the light. “What kind of illness turns bison’s tongues purple?,” I wonder.

“This can’t be good,” Aang looks defeated, “Katara, can you heal him?”

“It looks like he needs some medicine,” she says, “Maybe we can find the right herbs in town.”

“Then let’s get going,” I say. Before stopping Momo from licking Appa’s tongue. (This “having pets” thing is _not_ what I imagined it to be.)

***

“Is it just me, or this place seem different?” Toph asks as soon as we get into town.

“It’s not just you,” I say, looking around at the people suddenly smiling and laughing. Pole vaulting themselves from one house to the other. The little kids are playing and practically partying around.

It’s all in the good sense, but it’s difficult to imagine this was the same quiet, discolored place that we visited yesterday. The town is still a worn out, but more like a melted candle that still has light to burn.

We all follow a little boy bouncing a ball past us, and I catch a glance of Katara smiling a little _too_ pleased, and a little _too_ proudly.

“Hey, Xu,” Sokka greets Dock’s weird, apparent twin brother once we get to the market. “What’s going on with everyone today?”

“Ah, something amazing happened last night. Food was delivered to our village by a mysterious… and wonderful person. The Painted Lady.”

“The Painted who now?,” Katara asks.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard about that!” I reminisce out loud, clasping my fingers. “That’s a folk legend from this part of the Fire Nation, right? About a river spirit that watches over the Jang Hui.”

“That’s right,” Xu takes out a miniature statuette from under the counter. It kind of resembles a real human woman with reddish marks on her face, a loose cloak covering her shoulders, and a wide hay hat. “She’s part of our town’s lore. She’s the spirit of the river who watches over our town in times of need. I always thought she was just a legend. Until now.”

Sokka turns to Katara. “See? We don’t need to help these people, they already have someone to help them.” He turns back to Xu. “All we need is medicine for our sick friend.”

“Medicine?,” Xu parrots skeptical, “Sorry, all the medicine we have goes to the factory. That’s why there’s so many sick people in our village,” he sulks at that last part.

“Looks like we need to stay another night so Appa can rest,” Katara informs and Sokka sighs.

“I guess you’re right. You got any more food to sell, Xu?”

Xu quickly gets out two fishes from under the counter. “Would you like the one-headed fish, or the two-headed fish?”

I think I’m gonna vomit.

“Mmmmm… Two-headed!,” Sokka exclaims taking the gross thing in his hand. “What?,” he says once he turns to our disgusted faces, “You get more for your money that way!”

***

Appa still doesn’t feels well the next morning we all travel back to the village to get more food. (Though, I’m starting to think eating something else from there will make us all get even worse than Appa.) But apparently everybody else around is only feeling better and better, as the villagers are now running around, jumping and dancing, partying to the fullest in the middle of the street. I stare at the giant statue they are raising in the town square, a much larger version of the little statuette Dock… Xu… _whoever_ showed us yesterday.

Katara stands next to me, looking at the statue like it was the actual Great Spirit worthy of reverence, her blue eyes sparkling like this river would have been in another time. “Can you believe how much an entire village can affected by just one lady? – I mean, Spirit.”

“You seem pretty fond of this legend, Katara,” I muse.

She turns to me with a look of superiority that is just slightly softer than all the other self-righteous stares she has given me since I joined the group. “It’s not a legend, Zuko. Haven’t we been proven that she is real?”

Sokka approaches us from the market stall. “Well, I hope she returns every night. Otherwise this place would go right back to the way it was.”

“Why would you say that?,” Katara demands, annoyed, “Look how much better off these people are.”

“Yeah, now,” Sokka reminds us, “but without her they wouldn’t be able to fend for themselves. If she really wanted to help, she would use her spirit magic to blow up that factory. Something like…” And then he proceeds to make some waving, ghostly sounds that – I suppose – attempt to mimic spirit magic.

“Spirit magic doesn’t work that way, Sokka,” Aang intervenes, “It’s more like…” And then he starts with his own imitation.

I’m not an expert in spirit magic, but I would dare to say none of this is all that accurate.

They continue to perform their poor sound effects even at the more-annoyed-by-second look that Katara is giving them, before storming away with loud steps from the heels of her sandals.

People always calls me paranoid, but I’ve learned to not let the small details pass, and there’s something in Katara’s look that I don’t like… so I follow her up to the edge of the dock, the one with a full view of the Agung Factory, and she stares at it intently. Like she could tear the whole edifice down with willpower alone.

“What are you thinking about?,” I ask from beside her, a little unnerved at the force of her eyes.

“Nothing,” she says calmly, still staring rabidly at the factory. “Nothing at all.”

**Katara**

What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just leave the village behind like they were! And maybe disguising myself as an ancient spirit was too much, but the Painted Lady gives these people hope, I was just trying to bring them that hope! And now I’ll give them freedom from that awful, awful factory.

I wait enough past midnight to make sure the rest are sound asleep. Then I take the pile of dried grass that I’ve been using to cover up for me in my sleeping bag, and go to put on my costume. (I wonder if Suki would be proud of how well I apply my makeup!)

Alright, I’m ready! Now, let me just –

“The Painted Lady, I assume.”

“Ah!,” I scream, and then bend a strong wave of water from the river to knock down whoever the person in front of me is against the rocks, before realizing it is…

“That’s a pretty good way to scare a girl!,” I cry out.

“That’s a pretty good way to break a guy’s neck!,” Zuko says from the splashed floor, “But don’t change the subject!” He stands up. Faces me. I have to lift my chin a little to look him in the eye. “What do you think you’re doing? You _faked_ Appa’s illness?”

That _does_ me feel a tad guilty. “Well… He must have a little stomachache for all the purple berries I’ve been feeding him, but other than that he’s fine.”

Zuko opens his mouth like he’s about to protest. Then closes it, and settles for facepalming himself and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I see,” he says with a sigh, “So what’s your plan then, you’re going to give the village more food? How did you find so much food to spare them in the first place?”

“I went to the least polluted areas of the river and got some fish out of there. And then I took some berries and fruits from around here… and from our supplies… and then… gave it… to… them.”

Well, that does sounds a bit unintelligent, right? Giving away the few supplies that we have for ourselves. Like Zuko told me we couldn’t do. (Ouch. So much for my pride.)

Zuko himself gives me a flat look. “So your plan is still giving away _our_ food? Without consulting _us_?”

“For your information,” I say, matter-of-factly, “I’m planning on a more permanent solution.” I glance at the factory in the distance.

As if reading my mind, Zuko asks: “You’re planning on destroying the factory?”

“How did you guess?”

“I knew you were up to something earlier today.”

“I didn’t have you as the most observing one, Zuko!” I pull out an awed expression to back up my sarcasm.

“And I didn’t have you as the one that fakes bison’s illnesses, so I guess that we are even.”

I bristle. “Well, if you excuse,” I don’t bother in making my fake politeness less mocking, “I have stuff to do tonight.”

I walk past him, muttering _I hate you, hate you, hate you_ under my breath. 

“Katara, wait.”

Zuko catches up with me, placing himself in front of me again to avoid that I run off. “Listen, maybe I’m not with you in everything about sharing food we don’t have, but I do want to help this town, too. Let me help you with the factory.”

“You will help to destroy a _Fire Nation_ factory?” I arch a skeptical eyebrow at the _Prince of the Fire Nation_.

“This village is part of the Fire Nation, too,” he answers simply.

Oh. That’s actually… really noble from him.

“But don’t you need to hide yourself? What about if someone sees you and recognizes you?”

He takes out a blue-and-white mask that kind of resembles a dragon-like creature with dark eyes and puts it on to cover all of his face. “Hided.”

“You have your own spirit costume?” (I did not see that coming.)

“It is for… um… emergencies,” he explains, sort of. “Shall we get going?”

***

It was predictable that the factory would have guards on every corner, but we need a distraction for them if we want to get in, and then fully damage the machinery. Zuko doesn’t waste time and climbs through one of the building’s side walls, (rather graciously and effortlessly, may I add) and uses his swords to create an avalanche from the rocky hills that surround the place. He slides down as the rocks fall to create a loud, discordant symphony, and we both use one of the walls as a cover from the guards who run to investigate. Rather agilely as well, Zuko takes off the keys from one of the passing guards with the large blade of his sword.

Once we get in with the aid of the keys, we skip more of the vigilance and Zuko goes around creating more troubles for the guards with his swords, and positively knocking some out to get them out of the way. Whoa, who could have known that he was so good at these things?

I mean, it’s not like I didn’t know that he is good with the swords and that he’s strong and agile for all the training that he does. Maybe it is for all of his sword practice that he got such muscly arms. And such a broad chest. Which is hugged by the tight dark shirt he’s wearing. Not that I’m paying much attention to that fact.

We finally get to the machinery room, filled with glowing magma, and we split to work on our respective areas. I use a water tentacle to cut the metal hooks hanging some barrels of magma, Zuko pierces each of the conduits in the pipe system. He then climbs up to the control room and uses the panels to command the mechanic pulley system to overturn some of the bigger barrels of magma, positively destroying all of the equipment in the lower part of the room. Ultimately, he overheats the controls for them to explode irreparably.

I, on my part, stand in front of the only windows in the room. I concentrate in the water flowing at the other side of the walls, I can feel it. I direct it to rise and break through the crystal, flooding the place. The water mixed with the magma does nothing but overwhelm the machines around causing them to explode one after the other. It’s a beautiful sound. It is only interrupted by the steps of a pack of guards coming our way. Zuko and I exit through the backdoors.

“That was fun,” he says, taking off his mask once that we have already reaches close enough to our campsite.

“You said it!,” I agree, jokingly bumping my shoulder with him. “I didn’t know you knew how to drive heavy machinery, Zuko.”

“I grew up surrounded by those kind of things,” he reminisces me, smirking jokingly as well, “Military is kind of a big thing in the Fire Nation, remember?”

“Well, thanks for using that knowledge to help me up with this. I don’t know if I really could have done it just by myself,” I recognize.

“You would have,” he announces, “You’re an amazing waterbender, you would have flooded that place in seconds.”

I blush. “You think I’m an amazing waterbender?”

“Yeah. Doesn’t everyone?”

“You could have also destroyed the factory by yourself,” I point out, “You’re the greatest firebender around here.”

He smiles. “Thanks, I appreciate the compliment.”

“But you haven’t yet told me why the mask and stuff?”

He looks down, a bit ashamedly. “It’s sort of for a secret identity that I used to have. The Blue Spirit. I didn’t pick up the name,” he adds upon my light snort, “I just used to mess with the army a lot while I was still chasing Aang around, I wanted to make sure nobody captured him before me. So I disguised myself, and then I wore the mask whenever I needed to go on a secret mission. Villainous secret mission.”

I bump my shoulder with him again for cheering him up, “Hey, you changed that today. You wore the mask for a _heroic_ secret mission. We are both like secret heroes!”

“I suppose,” he smirks again.

“Speaking about masks,” I say, taking off my hat and wiping away some of my makeup. “I think I should take off my costume.”

As Zuko observes, I bend some water from the river for creating myself yet a new mirror, and I wipe away the paint from my face and shoulders with a piece of cloth from the old robe that I’m wearing. “Ta-da!,” I announce once I’m done. “Normal Katara.”

Zuko smiles. “For whatever it is worth, I think having normal Katara is much better than having the Painted Lady.”

I duck my head as I blush in a poor attempt to hide my own smile.

We both walk back to the camp together.


	2. Just a normal day (Momtara and Dadko)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because it's hard to divide the attention between so much kids. Especially when you're one yourself.

**Zuko**

_Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!_

I wake up with a start.

“What the Agni was that?!,” I say once I yank the door of my room open to the corridors of the Ember Island house.

“It came from Aang’s room!,” Katara says from the door of her own room across the hallway. If it wasn’t because of her groggy eyes, I wouldn’t be able to tell she had been sleeping until now. Her hair is a little messy, yeah, but it still falls down in fluid waves around her shoulders.

We both rush to Aang’s room and I almost tear the door open, “Aang, what happened?!”

He is sitting in his own bed, staring uncomprehensive into space before blinking confusedly at us. “Oh, sorry, guys,” he apologizes, understanding finally washing over his face, “I think I had nightmares again.”

“Again?,” I ask.

“He used to have plenty of nightmares before the Invasion due to the stress,” Katara explains. “But, Aang, we don’t have to battle Fire Lord Ozai just yet, you’re safe now.” She sits in his bed next to him.

“I know, I don’t know what happened… Maybe it was just a one-time thing, I mean, everybody has a little nightmare once in a while, right?” He chuckles nervously.

“It didn’t sound little,” Katara says.

“What’s going on?”

We all turn to see Sokka, Suki and Toph standing at the bedroom’s door, all of them clearly half-way asleep, Sokka actually has a blanket covering his shoulders and Toph is rubbing her eyes.

“Aang is having nightmares,” I explain.

“ _Again?_ ,” Toph questions exasperatedly.

“I _had_ a nightmare,” Aang defends himself, “There’s a difference. It was just one, and I haven’t had nightmares in ages. This is not like last time.”

“Alright, but just in case…” Katara turns to Sokka, Suki and Toph, “You guys go back to sleep, I’ll stay with Aang until he falls asleep again.”

Obviously the rest doesn’t puts much of a fight against going back to sleep.

“You, too, Zuko,” she continues once I watch them leave, “You need to sleep, too. Relax, I got this.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

I look from Aang to her and back to Aang again. “Okay.”

I close the door when I get out of Aang’s bedroom and then head back to my own – and I’m still not even halfway asleep again when I hear another scream.

I open my door again, and find Katara already back in her room. Distress widening her equally groggy eyes.

“I thought you were going to stay with him.”

“I did! And he fell asleep!”

We all over again run to his room. “Aang!”

This time he’s not confused, his expression is downright fearful.

“Sorry, guys,” he apologizes, “Nightmares again.”

“What was the nightmare about?,” Katara asks him, sitting next to him again and hugging him by the shoulders.

“The house was surrounded by the Fire Nation’s army!,” he explains, making exaggerated moves with his arms for dramatizing, “And they threatened with tearing it down if we didn’t surrender. But then the house turned itself into the Fire Palace, but it was all set into flames! And then…”

“Aang, Aang, we… get it,” I stop him before he has the chance to turn hysterical.

“Maybe it’s just that being in the Fire Lord’s house reminds you too much of him,” Katara suggests.

“So what can we do then?,” I ask, “Moving out?”

“No! I like this house!,” Aang pouts.

“Perhaps we could do something to harmonize it a bit more!,” Katara offers excitedly, “Like a renovation!”

I blink. (She’s joking, right?)

“You want to renew an _entire_ mansion?,” I wonder incredulous.

“Not the _entire_ mansion, just some parts for it to not resemble the Fire Lord so much. We could start tomorrow!”

“That sounds fun!” Aang squeals at the idea.

“Are you serious?,” I say. (She’s joking. Tell me that she’s joking.)

“Yes,” Katara remarks my way, “Tomorrow we’ll do something for Aang’s room to make him feel better.” She smiles at Aang.

“Yay! You’re the best!” Aang rejoices and then hugs her tightly.

I’m dumbfounded.

***

I really don’t know what I was expecting from this “renovation” thing. I guess a part of me didn’t fully believe it was for real. I mean, who does these things?! But apparently it _was_ for real, because Katara sends Sokka and me to the hardware store to get yellow paint for Aang’s room, (because it is Aang’s favorite color.)

 _This isn’t happening_ , I think. We are _not_ wasting a complete training and scheduling day painting a bedroom, right? _I’m_ the one that’s having a nightmare. _Right?!_

“Okay, now we just have to move the furniture a little to not get it messy with painting,” Katara announces, with a determinate and enthusiastic voice and posture that is way too much after a night of interrupted sleep. (This _is_ happening.)

“Zuko, Sokka, get the bed out of the way,” she commands.

“And what do I do?!” Aang bounces in eagerly, quickly throwing himself to grab the paint and the brushes.

I hold him back and lift him up by his shirt. “ _You_ are going to practice earthbending with Toph while we are working on this, then we will be practicing firebending for the rest of the day. Got it?”

He pouts. I let go of him and watch him stomp out of the room.

Granted, it is surprisingly easier to paint when you have a waterbender on your side, but we still had to deal with some major misfortunes involving Sokka, and paint-mustaches, and then Katara had to wash him with an entire ocean wave after he crashed against the still not dried wall. All in all, it was a pretty normal day.

(How weird it is that my “normal days” have turned into this?)

Aang is over-the-moon with the new color of his bedroom walls. (I didn’t know that people got that much excited with something like that.) And one would assume that it would be enough for him to finally have a peaceful night of sleep.

It wasn’t.

_Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!_

“Aang, what’s wrong?!” I ask when Katara and I get into his room once again.

“I dreamt that the walls were on _fire_!”

You got to be kidding me.

“I suppose the renovation didn’t work,” Katara says.

“Isn’t there another solution for this?,” I wonder.

“Well, the last time, I tried staying awake for several days in a row but… I don’t think that turned out well.”

“And none of the relaxing methods we tried last time worked either.”

“Look, maybe this is all just a coincidence,” Aang shrugs it off, “So I had yet another nightmare. Big deal. It could be nothing, just my subconscious adapting to the surroundings.”

“Aang…,” Katara whispers.

“I’ll be _fine_ ,” he insists, “This will go away in no time.”

***

It didn’t go away.

I’m sure that if my Uncle was here, he would make some special tea that would knock Aang out to sleep, but he’s not, so we are out of ideas for when he starts losing his mind to sleep deprivation.

“Sokka, have you been practicing climbing like I told you?!”

“I – ”

“You should be doing push-ups! Climbing is in the strength of the arms, and your arms are like noodles! Look at this!” Aang waves Sokka not-very-substantial arm by his wrist.

“Hey! I have a lot strength in the arms!,” Sokka counters.

“Then give me 20!” Aang points to courtyard’s floor. “Do it right now!”

Sokka looks down at the floor, looks up at Aang disgruntled, and then starts doing push-ups… with quite a lot of effort. “ _1_ … _2_ …”

“This is a disaster,” Katara laments herself at my side.

“I don’t know, it looks like exercise could be good for him,” I watch Sokka struggle to raise himself a third time.

“I was talking about Aang!,” Katara smacks me lightly on the arm to bring me back to reality.

“Oh! Right! Him!”

“This is exactly what happened last time. Look at him!”

“And that’s why you can’t wear makeup in battle, Suki!” Aang finishes his long explanation about how eyeliner could cause an eyelash to fall into Suki’s eye, blinding her in the middle of a fight, leading to her death.

“And _you_ ,” he points to me, “You should start having a more positive attitude towards life!”

“ _What?_ ”

“In my dream, we were all followed by the Fire Nation’s soldiers, but you had one of your _broody downfalls_ ,” he deepens his voice and makes his expression grimmer for further accentuate this, “and they captured you while you sulked!”

A pause. “Is this serious?”

“As a heart attack!”

“Aang,” Katara intervenes, “I think the nightmares are getting into you again. Why don’t you try to…”

“Bathe in a cold waterfall?!,” he concludes before her, “For me to bathe in a cold waterfall?! That’s a great idea! Thanks, Katara!”

He runs away with his airbender speed. To find a cold waterfall where to bathe, I suppose.

“Does this kind of things happens a lot to you guys, or…?” I ask.

“Oh, yeah,” Sokka says still doing push-ups even now that Aang left.

“All the time,” Toph cuts in.

“There has to be some way we can help Aang better,” Katara pushes forward on the matter, her expression deep in thought.

“Maybe we could still do something to ‘harmonize’ the house,” Toph says, making quotation marks with her fingers at the word _harmonize_ , “Something to make the house a bit more relaxing, to give the sensation that it is more protected… Something like a new pet!”

“Don’t we already have enough pets?,” I say, glancing at Appa and Momo.

“Yeah, but we need something new! Something strong, something loyal, something like a wild chicken-pork!” She finalizes triumphantly.

Both Katara and I blink in her way.

“Toph…” Katara starts carefully.

“Is there any reason why you are mentioning this now?” I finish.

“Nope.”

It’s convenient that her answer comes right before some crashing inside the house. And we go inside to find… wait for it… a wild chicken-pork.

“It followed me to the house when I finished practicing earthbending in the jungle,” Toph explains, running to hug the ungodly thing. “Can we keep it?”

“We are _not_ having _that_ inside the house!,” I say.

“Why not?!”

“Because! _That’s_ why!”

“Toph, you should have told us before bringing that thing in here,” Katara reprimands, “We don’t know where it has been, maybe it is unhealthy.”

The giant, meaty thing squeals.

“Listen to him. Isn’t that the sound of healthiness?” Toph continues.

“Get it out of here,” I point to the door.

“ _Fine_.”

“Guys, look,” Sokka yells from the courtyard, “I did _5_ push-ups!”

“Hey,” Katara exclaims suddenly, “I think I got an idea about how to help Aang sleep!”

***

“Are you kidding me?!”

“You know, this is actually making me feel a bit better,” Aang says while he lays in his bed peacefully with Katara and me at each of his sides.

“Aang, aren’t you a bit old for these things?”

“Time is an illusion.”

“So how old are you then, like 9?”

“How old are _you_? Like cranky 80s?”

“Boys,” Katara breaks off our argument, “Sleep.”

Her idea was that we could take turns of two for sleeping with Aang and console him if he got nightmares again. While it is a fast method, it’s not my favorite. I stare a Katara over Aang’s head as she rests her cheek over the pillow with her eyes closed. As if sensing my gaze, she smiles, half-apologetically, half-mischievously, and opens one eye to look at me.

“Hey, guys.” Toph comes through the bedroom’s door. “Do you mind if I stay in here for a while before my guard, too? I can’t be alone now that I lost my chicken-pork.”

“Sure, Toph.”

Katara makes a space for Toph to get in the bed besides her.

“Are you all in Aang’s bed?” Sokka and Suki appear in the doorframe, too, along with Momo.

“We want to be a part of this moment!” Sokka announces before running to lay at the end of the bed alongside Suki. And Momo flies up for then landing and snuggling over my chest.

(Seriously, how is it that _this_ has become my _life_?!)

(On the bright side, Aang doesn’t have any more nightmares.)


	3. Finale (Season 4 Zutara)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My take on Aaron Ehasz's alleged season 3 finale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know my past entries for the event have been kind of sloppy, guys. I've had to deal with some personal issues lately and all of it put in a bad place of my mind. Points for me for still sticking to my self-made promise of participating in Zutara Month, I guess, haha! But let me redeem myself from now on.

**Katara**

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony…

**Zuko**

Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

**Katara**

But it’s all over now.

**Zuko**

The Hundred Year War is over.

**Katara**

What is it called when you feel happy but also hollow? Like someone set you free only to abandon you on your own.

I never thought winning would feel like this. Really, I never thought much on how the world would be after the war, somehow I always imagined that the world would be… that ending the war would… fix everything. What would there be left to say?

A lot, apparently. Many lands will only now regain the rights to their resources, many people will only now start to live without fearing a merciless army.

I wonder what will be their next step in these new lives they are embarking themselves into. I wonder what will be _my_ next step in this new life that I have now.

But do I? Do I have a new life?

It doesn’t feel like it, it only feels like I have my old life but now… somehow it feels empty. Bittersweet. Without the war, what is there left for me to do? What is there left for warriors like Sokka and Dad to do? Live pacifically for the rest of our lives?

I embrace myself. The thought makes me feel anxious. I never knew peace would make me feel like this.

But wasn’t that what I always wanted? A peaceful life filled with love and hope? Well, yes, but… I just… It feels different now.

 _I_ am different.

I am standing in the balcony of an Earth Kingdom tea shop celebrating with earthbenders, firebenders and the Avatar himself the end of a 100 years long cycle. Of course I am different.

**Zuko**

There’s a lot of work to do after the war.

That resumes everything pretty well.

There are political relationships to build, and lands to return to their owners. When I imagined myself at the throne, it always was to continue the battles my father was leading; at times it felt right and wrong, because I felt I was protecting the Fire Nation and its soldiers fighting for it in the foreign countries… and I felt that there was something dark behind it all. Like the Fire Nation had sharpened like a bloody knife because of the Hundred Year War. I _never_ felt like I belonged to that. And the prospect of changing it is… scary.

Surprisingly, scary, and I’m not a person that scares easily. Which only proves how truly frightening the prospect is.

I leave the tea platter that I’m holding on one of the tables and get out to the balcony, I need some air.

“Hey,” I greet Katara when I find her in the balcony as well, lost in thought into the sunset.

She turns to me almost yelping. “Hey to you,” she says with a nervous, embarrassed smile once she recovers.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” I say.

“No, no, it was me, I was… distracted.”

I approach the border of the balcony next to her.

“What are you doing out here?,” she asks me, “You don’t like the party inside?”

“Um…,” I scratch the back of my head. “Parties aren’t really my kind of place.”

She laughs. “No joke. Well, lucky you then, your Fireiness. I don’t think politics involve a lot of partying.”

“Oh, you would be surprised,” I say, “For diplomacy’s sake, I’ll have to attend lots of royal dances, and awarding events, and boring conferences that are supposed to be celebrations but are only to give never-ending speeches.”

She laughs again. With her dark hair falling around her shoulders and the bright green dress she’s wearing, the sight is astonishingly pretty. “Never would have guessed that. But cheer up!,” her slender elbow nudges at my side, “Consider them celebrations for your new title.”

I know it wasn’t her intention, but I can’t help but feel grim at the mention of my new title.

“Hey,” she puts her hand on my forearm on the balcony’s border. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I say.

“Zuko.” I flinch a little at the persuasive power of her stern tone.

“It’s just that… I don’t know, I’m not feeling like I thought I would after my coronation.”

“Oh. I think I get what you’re feeling,” she mutters. Almost whispers. Absently.

**Katara**

“What do you mean?”

Zuko’s question breaks through me before I can fall into the melancholic pensiveness of just moments ago.

“I’m not feeling like I thought I would after the war,” I admit. (If Zuko already tried to deny what was troubling him, it makes no sense for me to deny it too. We would be running in circles.) “I thought I would be happy – and I am! But I… It feels like… I don’t know. I feel like I lost my purpose.”

“You haven’t lost your purpose, Katara. Our purpose was always to free the world, and we did.”

“I know, but without anything to fight for anymore, it feels worthless.”

“We still have a lot to fight for,” Zuko reminds me. “The world still needs to heal after everything that has happened. I told Aang that we would rebuild it together, you are also part of that plan.”

He smiles at me, and I smile back gratefully. “Thanks, Zuko.”

We fall into a companionable silence after that.

It’s never awkward to fall silent with Zuko, at least not for me. It feels like I can be the most myself and still be loyally accompanied. Sometimes, when I think about certain parts of myself that I’ve discovered recently… I don’t know if everybody would be all that loyal to me.

“By the way,” Zuko breaks the silence, “I haven’t asked you, what are you and Sokka going to do now? You guys are going back to the Southern Water Tribe?”

My stomach ties itself in a nervous knot. “I suppose…”

“What’s wrong?,” Zuko asks.

“Nothing.” (So much for not running in circles.)

“I think part of being friends is me asking again until you tell me… right?”

I giggle a little at his uncertainty, sometimes – _most_ of the time it’s pretty laughable how clueless Zuko is in matters of friendship.

“Sort of.”

“I really don’t know how that works but, if that’s the case, then I’m asking again now.”

I make a thinking pause before answering. “I think I’m afraid of returning to the person that I was before.”

Zuko doesn’t answers right away.

“Like, I feel different,” I explain further, “And I like the person into whom I’ve become. But I’m also afraid of her. And at the same time, I don’t want to forget about this person that I’m now.”

“I don’t think we will ever be able to forget the people that we are now,” Zuko mutters pensively, “But I get what you mean about returning to the ones we were before.”

**Zuko**

“Zuko, that’s not what I…,” Katara sounds just the rightfully alarmed at my implication of returning to who I was.

But I’m actually afraid of becoming much worse.

“I used to have lots of dreams – nightmares – about becoming like my father when I turned Fire Lord…,” I tell her. “I’m afraid they will come back. I’m afraid they will become real.”

Katara’s hand, small, delicate and warm, settles on my back. Comforting. She’s always comforting. “Zuko,” my name sounds more lovable than what it truly is on her voice, “Those nightmares are not real. You, me, the world. That’s real. And you helped to change that world into the dream of many. Dreams are the ones that come true, not nightmares.”

I want to believe that. I really, _really_ want to, but I am… me.

I don’t believe in things easily.

“I’ll tell you what,” Katara then offers, “If you ever become scared again of becoming like your father, whenever it is, send me a letter. I don’t know how I will do, but I will remember you who you are.”

“You would that for me?”

“That’s what friends do.”

That sounds like something _Katara_ would do.

“Then, I’ll do the same for you,” I declare. “If you ever fear becoming someone you are not, send me a letter and I’ll remember you who are, too.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“You pinky-swear?”

“What?”

“It’s something that I do with Gran-Gran,” she explains upon my inquisitive look, “It is like this.”

She reaches for my left hand with both of her own, and gently closes it leaving only my pinky finger extended. Then she tangles it with her own pinky.

“Done!” She lets go of my finger. “You officially pinky-swore, now you’ll have to fulfill that promise!”

She looks so excited at that chance that I can’t help but smile back at her smiling and blindingly sparkling blue eyes. “I will.”


	4. Fire, Water and Blood (Don't hurt him/her)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bloodbending controls all of the blood in one's body. A re-telling of the events in The Puppetmaster featuring Zuko.

**Zuko**

“Maybe telling ghost stories while we camp in the middle of the forest wasn’t all that much of a good idea.” I struggle to get out of Aang’s crushing terrified embrace.

“How is it that you’re not scared, Zuko?,” he asks me, shaking like jelly.

“I just don’t get scared by those things.”

“Good for you, Mr. Two-fisted,” Katara – my _somewhat-but-not-really-of-a-girlfriend-since-the-past-weeks_ – replies dryly hugging me together with Sokka from my other side.

“Guys,” Toph cuts in insistently, “I’m telling you that I hear something.”

“Maybe Zuko’s right and you’re just jumpy from the ghost stories,” Katara deduces. (I’m tempted to say that I’m flattered that she said I was right, but I think we already had enough sarcasm for the situation.)

“It just…,” Toph murmurs, “stopped.”

Aang crushes me tighter. “All right, now I’m getting scared.”

 _You mean all of that “nearly-strangling” me was_ before _you got scared?!_

“Hello, children.”

That makes us all scream and back off to the source of the strange voice. (It’s not that _I_ am scared too, it just… caught me by surprise.)

A very elderly woman with long, slightly unevenly combed white hair emerges from the trees towards us. Smiling at us.

“Sorry to frighten you,” she says, “My name is Hama. You children shouldn’t be out in the forest by yourselves at night, I have an inn nearby. Why don’t you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?”

We all exchange a look among ourselves. “Yes, please,” Sokka answers sheepishly but eagerly.

The lady – Hama – smiles again. “Come on and follow me.” She steps back into the shadows of the trees.

“Are we sure we should be accepting offers like that from a person that emerges from the woods at night?,” I ask.

“C’mon, Zuko, she seems nice,” Katara says, grabbing my hand to tag along with the rest. “Besides, staying out in the forest could be dangerous.”

***

**Katara**

“Thanks for letting us stay here tonight,” I say to Hama once we are all gathered around the kitchen table and she prepares us some tea, “You have a lovely inn.” I admire the picturesque décor.

“Aren’t you sweet?,” she comments to me setting the teapot down before joining us at the table, “You know, you should be careful, people have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in.”

“What do you mean ‘disappearing’?,” Zuko asks from besides me. I place my hand on his forearm, it must be hard for him to hear this kind of things about the Fire Nation.

“When the moon turns full, people walk in and they don’t come out,” Hama says as if it was one of the ghosts stories – yet a better told one – that Sokka was telling us earlier. “Who wants more tea?,” she then asks gleefully.

_Um…_

“Don’t worry, you’ll all be completely safe here,” she reassures us, “Why don’t I show us to your rooms and you can get a good night’s rest?”

We all walk around the corridors, following Hama in group while she shows us each of our individual rooms. The ones that she picked up exclusively for us, she says.

“She’s very sweet, don’t you think?,” I ask Zuko now that we are the only two left.

“I guess so. But I still have a bad feeling about this.” He eyes the dark surroundings warily.

I squeeze his hand lightly, I’ve been holding it since a while ago. (How did _that_ happen?) “You’re being paranoid.”

“All right, young sweethearts,” Hama announces stopping in yet another door, “While I love for all the young lovers to share their time together, I’m afraid I’m still too old-fashioned to not apply some boundaries.”

 _She said what now?!_ Zuko and I blush heatedly and let go of each other’s hands like they were on fire. “We are not – !”

“We aren’t – !”

“This is your room, Katara,” Hama points politely to the wooden door, “I hope you enjoy it, I reserved the most comfortable one for you.”

My face still burning, I whisper “I will” and rush inside taking one last glance at Zuko through the corner of my eye.

**Zuko**

“Now, you just follow me, Zuko,” Hama tells me once Katara has entered her room.

She takes me to a space much more apart from the others’ rooms, to a much dug and darker space in the hallway, so dark that Hama’s white hair is the only thing that provides some sort of radiance in the cold dimness.

She chuckles walking ahead of me. “Zuko. That’s an interesting name. It almost sounds like the Fire Prince’s.”

My blood runs cold. “Yeah, right, my parents were… devoted to the royal family.”

“Were? What happened to them?”

“They are… gone.”

“Oh, I see. Did it happen when you got your scar?”

I’m more than weirded out by Hama’s sudden row of personal questions. And the cold tone of her voice compared to the one she used in the others.

“I… had a bad encounter once.”

“So sorry to hear that,” she says, still without looking at me. “Fire Nation people can be so ruthless some times… Don’t _you_ think?”

Before I can fully process my intrigue at her somber question, she stops abruptly in front of an old wooden door. “This is your room,” she announces cheerfully, “Enjoy it, and get some rest, you’ll need it.”

***

**Katara**

Hama takes us shopping next morning. She’s being _so_ sweet to us, kinda like Gran-Gran would be if she was here with us. With all of Hama’s friendliness and cheerfulness, it’s incredibly nice to have her around. She does can behave a little bit strange from time to time, but I think that’s just some old people thing. (Ask Bumi if you don’t believe me.)

“That Mr. Yao seems to have a thing for you,” I observe once we walk away from his stand, “Maybe we should go back and see if he’ll give us some free komodo sausages?”

“You would have me use my feminine charms to take advantage of that poor man?,” she questions me. “I think you and I are going to get along swimmingly!”

We both giggle at this.

**Zuko**

I don’t get why am _I_ the one that gets to carry all of the heavy stuff, but apparently Hama assigned that job to me.

“Why don’t you take all those things back to the inn?,” Hama says once we get to the exit of the market. “I just have to run a couple more errands. I’ll be back in a little while.”

“This is a mysterious little town you have here,” I comment to her, recalling on the conversation me, Sokka, Aang and Toph overheard from a seller about the full-moon disappearances, along with Hama’s own weird disappearances from time to time.

She looks me intently in the eye, if I didn’t know better, I would say _threateningly_. Her ever-lasting smile never leaves her face but it does not meets her eyes. None of her expressions ever meet her eyes, they are the most blank that I have seen. Gray like a corpse’s skin.

“Mysterious town,” she whispers, “for mysterious children.”

***

“Don’t you think that Hama lady seems a little strange?”

Katara, Sokka, Toph and Aang all turn to me upon my question once we are back at the inn.

“Actually, yeah,” Sokka mutters, grabbing his chin pensively. “Like she knows something.”

“Or she’s hiding something,” I conclude for him.

Katara frowns at both of us. “That’s ridiculous! She’s a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay… She kinda reminds me of Gran-Gran.” She smiles fondly after the admission.

“But what did she mean by ‘mysterious children’?,” I wonder.

“Gee, I don’t know, Zuko. Maybe because she found five strange kids camping in the woods at night? Isn’t that a little _mysterious_?”

“But didn’t you hear the way she said it? It was like she was implying something. Like she indeed _knows_ something.”

Katara shakes her hand dismissively. “I already told you you’re being paranoid. She’s just a kind, sweet old lady that has done nothing but doting us – a bunch of strangers – out of pure selflessness.”

“Nobody is _that_ selfless, Katara,” I debate.

“ _I_ am that selfless!,” she shrieks before turning and unpacking the groceries angrily.

“I mean… yes, but… you’re different,” I (try) to reason.

“Let’s just take a look around to confirm Zuko’s suspicions,” Sokka suggests before walking away to run upstairs.

We all follow. “Sokka!,” Katara calls her brother out, “Sokka what are you doing? You can’t just snoop around someone’s house.”

“It’ll be fine. I just want to find out if this lady’s up to something.”

Katara turns to me. _Fuming_. “See what you did? Hama is gonna be so angry at us when she finds out we betrayed her trust!”

“Hey, _I_ haven’t done anything,” I argue. “And even if I did, we have time to investigate, she will never find out.” I run upstairs to catch up with Sokka.

“You were the one that started it with all of your unfounded accusations,” Katara stubbornly continues. “I like this lady, Zuko, I have a good feeling about her.”

I sigh. “Katara, don’t you think that, with everything that’s going around, she’s at least worthy of suspicions? We have to constantly cover our backs, you can’t allow a ‘feeling’ to blind you.”

“Oh, look who’s talking, Mr. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling’.”

“At least I’m being rational!”

“Are you suggesting that I’m _i_ rrational?!”

“I’m just – ”

“I don’t have time for this,” she cuts me off, “I’ve to go get Sokka,” she runs after him.

“And I have to find out what’s going on around here,” I remark.

***

**Katara**

“I knew there was a good explanation to why Hama was acting so strange!” I exclaim triumphantly.

“I thought you didn’t think there was anything strange with her.”

I frown at Zuko as we both wash the dishes. (I offered myself to do this as an apology gesture to Hama after we messed with her things and then forcing her to relive such a painful time for her. And I dragged Zuko because he’s the one that’s to blame for all of it in the very first place.)

“I don’t know why I’m talking about this with you.” I throw the drying napkin that I’m holding to the counter. “You’re the one that has been bad-mouthing Hama all day long!”

“I wasn’t ‘bad-mouthing’ her, I was being realistic.”

“How ‘realistic’ it is to falsely accuse someone?” I turn away, I’m done talking about this with him.

“Listen, I…,” I hear his heavy sigh, “I get that mayhap I let my distrust to get out a more guarded side of me. I was just trying to protect us all,” he says. “In a way, I still am. I still don’t trust that lady.”

_I can’t even…_

“How can you say that?!,” I shriek. “Didn’t you hear everything that the Fire Nation put her through?!”

“Being a victim doesn’t means you’re innocent, Katara.” I bite my tongue at his somber tone.

I _really_ don’t want to say something that hurts him, but I just…

“She’s going to teach me about the antique Southern waterbending style. An opportunity like that means _the world_ to me, Zuko, and now I just got it. She’s like an angel sent to me!”

“I think you’re putting her in too much of a high pedestal.”

“You don’t get it!”

“Katara, I _do_ get it.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Look, I’m sorry for everything the Fire Nation did to the Southern Water Tribe and its waterbenders… I’m sorry that so much people suffered because of the country and… for whatever it is worth… I am glad that _you_ weren’t amongst the captured waterbenders. And I know that that doesn’t sounds like much coming from someone from the Fire Nation, but it’s the truth. And I want to restore everything the Water Tribe lost, but I can’t. At least not for now. That’s why I do want you to learn more about the Tribe from before things went wrong, and because I know how it feels like to want to learn more about your heritage… but iItill is there a way that I can be supportive and still be concerned?" to learn more of your heritage. sed with her things, ands there a way that I can _still_ be supportive and _still_ be concerned?”

I look at Zuko. At his open expression and eyes. It’s funny, before he joined the group he was so closed and cold off all the time you could never have guessed there was something worth knowing behind it all. And since he joined us he’s so easy-to-read and warm, it’s almost overwhelming.

“You _do_ support me on this?” I ask slowly, arching an eyebrow at him.

“Yes.”

“Okay then,” I concede. “At least you’re being honest.”

“You want me to accompany you to your training with Hama tomorrow?”

“Wouldn’t you be bored in a waterbending training?”

“My Uncle invented firebending techniques studying waterbenders. Maybe I can come up with something myself while watching you,” he blushes, “I mean, watching the training.”

I giggle.

And then I hug him.

It takes him a few seconds to get the hint, but his arms finally come around and surround my waist, holding me against him. “Thanks for worrying, Zuko.”

***

I’m so excited for my new waterbending training! I did try to bring Zuko with me this morning, but Hama insisted that it would be better for me to concentrate if we were alone during the lesson. She has taught me so many things already, I never knew I could create water out of thin air! And she’s right about something. If you look close enough, there’s water in everything and everyone. Water gives life.

Now Hama is taking me to an open field filled with bright, pinkish red flowers that glow like the sunset.

“Wow, these flowers are beautiful!,” I gasp.

“They’re called fire lilies,” Hama tells me. “They only bloom a few weeks a year, but they’re one of my favorite things about living here. And like all plants and all living things, they’re filled water.”

Oh, that remembers me of Huu! “I met a waterbender who lived in a swamp and could control the vines by bending the water inside.”

“You can take it even further.”

In a sharp circular move, Hama rises all of the water contained in a row of flowers, creating a great current with only tiny contributions of each one, and she uses it to slice a nearby rock through and through.

“That was incredible!” I gape at her. But my eyes drift back to the circle of now black – not even brown but _black_ – flowers around my feet. “It’s a shame about the lilies, though.”

“They’re just flowers,” Hama says, with a now uncaring tone that contradicts the one when she said she liked the lilies.

***

“And then she told me she will teach me an ultimate waterbending technique tonight!”

“But didn’t she say it was dangerous to get out in the full moon?,” Zuko inquires as I recount him what Hama and I did today.

“She says nobody can beat two waterbenders with the full moon on their side. And I believe her. I mean, you have seen that by yourself, haven’t you?”

“Ha, ha,” he mock-laughs at my mischievous recalling of our duel at the North Pole. “But are you sure it is all that safe? Not for nothing, but if the disappearances are truly because of spirit magic, I don’t think human benders – not even the most powerful ones – will stand much of a chance.”

“I thought you told me that the disappearances weren’t because of the spirits.”

“We asked around all town, and nobody knows how or why the disappearances started. But supposedly there’s this ‘Old Man Ding’ that escaped from whatever it was that is taking the people. We are going to talk to him later tonight.”

“Tonight?!” I gasp bewildered. “Outside? In the full moon? Are you crazy? What about if something happens to you?!”

“Hey, we might be no waterbenders, but we are still pretty good,” he says confidently. “We’ll be fine, you worry about your lesson.”

I bite my lip uncertainly.

“Really, Katara, we’ll be alright. I won’t let anything happen to anyone.”

“I’m also worried about something happening to _you_ , Zuko.”

Like always that someone remotely implies caring about Zuko, he looks down and backs off a little, looking like a lost deer in the woods.

I throw myself forward and embrace him. “I worry about you, Zuko,” I whisper.

He holds me back tightly, but also hesitantly, like he doesn’t knows how much emotion it is okay for him to show. “I know,” he whispers back.

I hug him tighter, I want him to feel how I feel, that I’m not afraid of showing it to him, that he shouldn’t be afraid of showing how he feels either. We both back off slowly, but without letting go, just enough to stare at each other’s face. I lean forward and kiss on the lips. Just enough for him to feel me against him. Here with him. That I _want_ to be here with him.

***

Hama and I get to a clear spot in the forest, one fully lit by the moon. The light reflects so outstandingly, it is like a mirror.

“Can you feel the power the full moon brings?,” Hama asks me.

 _Yes, I can_ , I think. It’s like all the blood in your body turned into fireworks. Into sparks that lit up your inner strength. But looking at the bulged out veins in Hama’s outstretched arm, I can’t help but feel disgusted.

***

**Zuko**

Toph feels the mountain’s ground with her hands. “I can hear them! They’re this way!”

***

**Katara**

“But… to reach inside someone and control them?... I don’t know if I want that kind of power.”

“The choice is not yours,” Hama says, almost howls, authoritatively. “The power exists. And it’s your duty to use the gifts you’ve been given to win this war! Katara, they tried to wipe us out, our entire culture, your mother!”

 _Mom.._. “I know…”

“Then you should understand what I’m talking about!” There are no more traces of the kind old lady that I thought I knew, I’m in front of a monster. Not even a vengeful, dark spirit would look as savage and as inhuman as Hama now. “We’re the last two waterbenders of the Southern Tribe. We have to fight these people whenever we can, wherever they are, with any means necessary!”

“It’s you…,” I whisper as cruel realization hits me. “You’re the one who’s been making people disappear during the full moons!”

“They threw me in prison to rot, along with my brothers and sisters! They deserve the same! You must carry on my work!”

“I won’t!,” I yell. “I won’t be your puppet! I won’t use bloodbending and I won’t allow you to keep terrorizing this town!”

Just as the words leave my mouth, my hand twists. Painfully. Agonizingly. It’s a pain that I never thought possible to feel. And it doesn’t matter how hard I try to stop it, I can’t.

“You should’ve learned the technique before you turned against me!” Hama taunts.

She starts turning around with much cleaner, yet stiffer moves than traditional waterbending. My body follows each direction she takes, all along I feel like my veins are trying to trespass my organs, my muscles and my skin.

Throwing me around is only a foreplay before she makes me knees to bend and I fall on the floor.

“Stop…” _I don’t want to beg. I won’t beg._ “Please.”

***

**Zuko**

“She seems like a normal old woman,” one of the chained ladies says, “but she controls people like some dark puppetmaster!”

“Hama,” Sokka grits out.

I _scream_. “Katara!”

***

**Katara**

_This is what happens when you trust too fast_ , I think. I deserve this, for my naivety. I should have known better. I should have known then what I know now. Not only about Hama, but about the world, and the people in it. I should have known better about myself, too, about how weak I was. Was. Because I’ll _never_ be that weak again.

I feel the moonlight, above and inside me, and slowly get up from the unworthy floor. “You’re not the only one who draws power from the moon,” I declare. “My bending is more powerful than yours, Hama. Your technique is useless on me!”

If I had the time, I would rejoice in the shocked and almost fearful expression the old witch has in her face as of now. But I think that’ll have to wait for another day. I command a ring of water to raise from the grass, and throw it at her. She bends it back to me before it can hit her, and then she absorbs the water out of some poor trees until turning them into ashes. (So heartless, I _really_ should have known better.) Redirecting another one of my attacks, she uses it and the water from the trees to shoot a pressurized water jet at me.

I disintegrate the water into droplets that now fly around us with my bare hand.

Still don’t have time to delight in the ancient fossil’s shocked face, though. So I take the moment to pull more water out of the grass around her and push her to spin and knock her into the ground.

“Katara! Katara!”

I turn to look at Zuko, Sokka, and Aang running towards us from the woods.

“We know what you’ve been doing, Hama!” Sokka says.

“Give up!,” Aang takes his fighting stance, “You’re outnumbered!”

“No! You’ve outnumbered yourselves!”

Hama gets up from the ground and grasps all Aang, Sokka and Zuko with bloodbending.

“No!” I yell.

She makes Aang and Sokka to raise their fists, throwing swings in my direction.

“Leave my friends alone!” I push them out of the way to have a clear view and throw a water current to Hama, but she draws water out of a vine once more and stops my attack.

Sokka – or more accurately Hama through Sokka’s arm – draws out his sword. “Katara, look out!”

The blade of the sword comes just inches away from my face. I use another ring of water to push him away.

“I’m sorry, big brother!”

Hama uses Aang to take more swings at me. I freeze him to a nearby tree. “I’m sorry, Aang!”

I turn to strike at Hama and _force_ her to let my friends go, if I have to. But I notice a little too late that she’s still gripping Zuko.

**Zuko**

“How humbling from you to visit the plebeians, Prince Zuko,” Hama spits out from behind me, her voice filled with poison; with each word, I feel like my chest contracts itself tighter. “I’m sure you wonder why I’m not allowing you to join to the party. I’ve a special job for you.”

My chest keeps growing tighter, like it was becoming smaller, my heart feels heavy. Too heavy. Too slow. I’m breathing too slow. My heart is beating too slow.

“What are you doing?” My voice sounds like it’s being strangled and crushed at the same time. Which, actually, is exactly how I feel at the moment.

“What you deserve,” Hama spits.

_Too slow. Breathing slower. Beating slower._

“Zuko?” Katara says.

“ _I… can’t… breathe._ ”

“So fast now?,” Hama jumps in sarcastically. “Weak. I knew you weren’t different.”

I feel Hama releasing control over my arms and legs, and I fall on my knees to the floor. My chest does nothing but continue to crush itself, every time I try to breathe it feels like my lungs pierce themselves against my ribcage, and my heart is just… not… working. _I can’t breathe._

_I can’t see._

**Katara**

“Let him go!” I throw another blow at Hama but she blocks it easily while still holding power over Zuko.

“How does it feels, Prince Zuko?” Hama continues to taunt Zuko while he’s still on the floor, clutching to his chest desperately. “How does that pain feels like? It would too easy, too merciful for you to die quickly. I’ll let you feel the pain. I’ll let you know that you’re dying.”

“What are you doing to him?” I demand. I’m sick of not knowing what to expect from this… thing.

“Bloodbending controls the blood in one’s body, Katara. That’s exactly what I’m doing, commanding the blood in his body to follow my every order.”

Zuko’s skin is turning paler, paper pale, ghostly pale. His veins are going from blue to purple, to dark gray.

A horrified, and slightly disgusted at the woman in front of me, gasp escapes my throat. “Stop it!” I throw another current at Hama. Then another and another. She blocks them all.

“How can you be with one of them, Katara?,” Hama howls. “With one of their people, the worst of them all. How can you look at yourself at the mirror? Where is your pride? Where is your loyalty?!”

“Don’t hurt him!” I use the water in the night air to create water daggers and throw them at her, she uses plantbending to bend the tree branches and block the daggers.

“Hama, stop this!”

She applies more force over her bloodbending over Zuko. He makes a choked cry in response.

“Hama, I give up, okay?” I drop the water that I’m holding, and raise my hands in surrender. “I give up! Just don’t hurt him!”

“ _Giving up?!_ ” My answer does nothing but displease her, and she applies even more force in her bloodbending over Zuko, applying more pressure on his blood, keeping it from coursing through his heart.

Zuko looks like he could scream if he had the breath for it. He looks like a zombie. Like a real dead body. “ _Ka… tara._ ”

_Dead body._

_Dead._

_No._

**Zuko**

I breathe deeply.

I _really_ breathe deeply.

I can breathe again, I can see again. My heart and chest are no longer heavy. What…?

**Katara**

I hold my hands out and mimic the moves Hama used on me earlier. It’s almost scary how easy it is to simply focus and envision the blood coursing, another person’s blood coursing through their body. And then direct that blood to the directions you want it to take. I make Hama do stiffen in place, (there’s no need to make this more about revenge than what it already has been.)

I make her to fall to the floor.

And then I run to Zuko once he stands up and hug him tightly.

I melt the ice to free Sokka and Aang. In resume, I just clean all of the mess that I got myself and my friends into.

“You’re going to be locked away forever,” one of Hama’s victims gabs her once they arrive along with Toph.

“My work is done,” she announces cockily. “Congratulations, Katara. You’re a bloodbender.”

And she laughs. And laughs and laughs. Into the distance.

_I… can’t…_

“It’s okay,” Zuko murmurs, caressing my hair as I cling to him crying like the weakling that I am. “It’s okay. I am here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to take some AU liberties on this one and I think I'll be applying them from now on. For explaining, in my AU, since Zuko joined the GAang earlier, he and Katara had enough time to develop feelings for each other, but they are not in a relationship per se, because none feel like they should focus on romance with the war at hand. But since they are both teenagers without a proper adult surpervision, they do kiss and have intimate moments (no, not THAT kind of intimate moments), but they do have romantic interactions while STILL not in a relationship... At least according to them, haha.


	5. If… (Southern Water Tribe Culture)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko comes to visit the Water Tribe for the Southern Reconstruction Project and learns more about the betrothal necklace tradition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, guys, I had an emergency yesterday and couldn't post the corresponding chapter...

**Katara**

“Are you happy for seeing your friends again, Katara?”

Gran-Gran’s voice breaks through my wandering mind when it gets lost staring at the sky outside our family igloo.

“Of course! I haven’t seen them in _ages_!”

“You saw them two months ago,” she reminds me.

“That must be why I miss them so much.”

Making a risky bet, I would say that Gran-Gran is shaking her head fondly at me right now. “Well, I know that’s a lot of time for a teenager to not see her _boyfriend_.”

I blush, I’ve become kind of use to that. “Gran-Gran!”

She giggles like a girl my age teasing me about my crush. “What? He’s your _boyfriend_ , isn’t he? So I can call him your _boyfriend_ whenever I want.”

Sokka races to us eagerly and with a wicked smile on his face, putting an arm around Gran-Gran’s shoulder at my suspicious look. “Oh, Gran-Gran, c’mon let’s sing the song. _Zuko is Katara’s boyfriend, Zuko is Katara’s boyfriend!_ ”

“That’s not even a song! You just sing it to get under my skin!” I glare at my dumb, arrogant, silly, _immature_ brother.

“And it’s a hit around the Tribe!”

“You – ”

“Don’t fight, kids,” Gran-Gran mediates calmly before we can get into another one of our feuds. (Well, we already _are_ in one of our feuds, but she stops it from escalating.) “Be nice with your sister, Sokka. You know it’s hard for her and Zuko to see each other with his political duties in the Fire Nation, and remember that you always get sad whenever you don’t get to see Suki.”

Sokka pouts at the mention of Suki and says a reluctant – not very convincing – “fine”.

He gets in the igloo again, probably to sulk over Suki for a couple of hours. Or around 4 hours. Whatever he’s in the mood for.

“Oh, look!” Gran-Gran points to the sky. “Looks like they’ve arrived!”

I turn to see two airships approaching in the sky. One the undeniable unique Fire Nation’s terracotta red with its prominent peaks spiking at the front, and the other the round Earth Kingdom’s yellow and green one.

“They’re here!” I run to recently arranged landing platform – though, it’s more of so like a clear in the middle of the snow.

**Zuko**

I dismiss my bodyguards before walking down the platform. (Many would argue that it is not a very smart security move, but I feel save enough here.) (Besides, I just want to see my friends – and my _girlfriend_ – without any kind of disturbances.)

“Welcome to the South Pole, your Majesty,” I recognize Toph’s voice when I get close enough. “As polar as it gets.”

The Earth King sounds awed. “My world it is so… _cold_.”

“Yeah, that comes with the ‘polar’ thing, you know.”

“I think that what Toph means, your Majesty,” I say once I step on the snow, “is that you’ll get used to it after a while.”

“Sparky Lord!”

Like she could see me crystal clear, Toph runs straight to me and nearly tackles me to the ground in her iron-grip lock of a hug. Raising my chin a little, I rest it on top of her head against her poorly brushed but still soft black hair, (she has gotten _so_ much taller.) “It’s been forever,” she says.

I roll my eyes a little. “Toph, I saw you three weeks ago when you appealed for property rights over a land on Fire Nation’s territory.”

“Don’t you know that three weeks is the same than three months for a 14-year-old?”

I roll my eyes again.

“It’s lovely to see you again, Fire Lord Zuko,” the Earth King calls out, trembling in the middle of the snow. “It’s a luck that I get to share my first visit to the South Pole with such a wonderful company.”

“Thank you, your Majesty. Did you and Toph enjoyed your flight from the Earth Kingdom?”

“Oh, man, I barely got in time before the airship went up!,” Toph says. “Managing the Earthen Fire Industries’ power plants project and inaugurating new metalbending academies in the different rings of Ba Sing Se barely leaves me with time to _breathe_ , much less to remember when I have to fly around the world in a giant basket to _another_ one of my important reunions.”

“You make it sound like you live attending to important reunions,” I mutter.

“And I do!,” she remarks, with her face not really looking my way, but then pointing a questioning finger directly to my nose, she demands: “Name how many 14-year-olds are business managers of the most important entrepreneurial empire in the world, and also manage their own line of bending academies. For a bending style that they _invented_ themselves!”

“Yeah, yeah, I… get it!”

“Bosco and I would have waited for you, Toph,” the Earth King shares a sheepish, yet kind smile. “Right, Bosco?”

Bosco himself roars in response.

“Speaking of which, pal,” the Earth King continues, “Would you mind giving me a hand with the cold?”

Steadying himself up in his back feet, Bosco approaches the King and… in short, hugs him, surrounding him with his brown, fuzzy fur.

The King sighs in relief. “Ah! Much better! Everybody should have a bear best friend. Do you want to join us to warm yourself, Fire Lord Zuko?”

“Um…,” _No._ “Don’t you worry about me, your Majesty. You just… um… enjoy your… selves?”

“I know who will _warm_ you up.” Toph’s comment comes in a slow, suave tone accompanied with a light elbow nudging at my side.

As if in cue – _most_ probably in cue – a distinctive and dearly familiar voice sounds not far in the distance: “Guys!”

I raise my gaze to see Katara running towards us, struggling to increase her speed with her polar bear dog fur boots digging too deep in the thick snow. Her long brown braid bounces in her back and from one shoulder to the other with her erratic, clumsy steps. That and her slightly round cheeks and face make her look like an excited little girl playing in the snow. It’s adorable.

Finally getting to the landing platform – where the snow is properly kept to resemble somewhat of a platform – she can run just as fast as she wishes, just fast enough to throw her arms covered in her thick dyed-baby blue fur coat, with purple strikes on each side of the sewing lines, around my neck. Her almost-tackle is much more of an almost-successful attempt than Toph’s, but… to be honest… I don’t mind all that much.

I catch her and hold her tight against me once both her arms and her legs surround my neck and waist. Instinctively, I dip my face in her hair, breathing her in avidly, like I’m feeding on the sensation of her. It certainly feels like it.

I don’t know for how long we stay like that – it only seems like mere seconds, but I’ve been told that we actually can spend _hours_ like this whenever we see each other – when Toph clears her throat purposely loud.

“Uh… Well, I’m glad that everybody is happy to see _me_ , too.”

“Oh, Toph!” Katara lets go of me a bit slowly, before turning to her and squeeze her in her arms, bouncing from one side to the other in euphoria. “Of course I’m happy to see you, too!”

“It’s okay, Katara. I know I’m not some tall, supposedly handsome ruler of the Fire Nation. I would say ‘handsome’ right ahead, but I really have no idea how Sparky looks like…”

“Of course I’m happy to see you, silly!” Katara lets go just enough to give Toph a little reprimand punch with her gloved hand before hugging her again.

“Whatever. You better get back to Sparky before he gets jealous, you know how insecure he is.”

“Hey! I’m _not_ insecure!”

“You mean you don’t want me to hug you again?,” Katara smirks at me.

I feel a scorching blush creep to my cheeks. “No! I mean – !”

Before I can tangled in another one of my catastrophic brainteaser of an answer, Katara merely hugs me again. Much calmer than before, but still warm and close.

“Aren’t you just the sweetest couple?,” the Earth King cuts in, still clinging to Bosco’s fur. “Right, Bosco?”

Bosco roars in agreement.

Katara and I blush and let go of each other, just not so abruptly this time.

“Did you guys saw Aang flying in your way here?”

I don’t even have time to say _no_ properly, and Toph doesn’t has time to make another joke about her “seeing” something, when we hear an “I’m here! I’m here!” from too much of a unique voice to not recognize it.

The three of us look up at the sky in perfect synchrony, and find a sky bison flying in descending mode until landing not far away from our airships, but even before Appa has the time to correctly land himself, Aang jumps off from his saddle using airbending to save his fall.

“Sorry about the late, we stopped to penguin slide in one of the coasts.”

“Aang!”

Toph and I run after Katara towards him and into one of our group hugs that I have gotten just slightly used to over the past years.

“Hey! You know the rules, no family moments without me!” Sokka – apparently out of nowhere – materializes catching up with all of us around Aang.

“I thought you were gonna brood for the rest of the day, big brother,” Katara says.

“Shhhhh! This is more important.”

***

“Thanks for supporting the Southern Reconstruction Project, Zuko.” Lady Kanna – Katara’s grandmother that I just can’t bring myself to call _Gran-Gran_ – puts the bowls of sea prunes in front of each of our cushions and Aang’s resignedly disgusted stare as we sit for dinner.

“It’s an honor for me, lady Kanna,” I say.

“You can call me Gran…”

“I still don’t get used to it,” I mumble, as a poor apology, scratching the back of my head.

She laughs, a hoarser version of Katara’s own laugh. “Don’t you worry, you’ll come around with our traditions.”

“Traditions that I hope we get to keep now that the North is taking us over,” Katara frowns while her hand travels to her necklace’s pendant.

“They are not taking us over, Katara,” Hakoda explains. “We are just making the Tribes more like one. We are supposed to be one, aren’t we?”

“I don’t want the Northern traditions to erase the Southern ones!”

“Our traditions are not all that different.”

“The North believes in arranged marriage for political reasons!,” she argues. “At age _16_! Last time I checked, that wasn’t a tradition of the South. And I’m glad it isn’t!”

“Many countries have their different views on marriage and politics, right, Zuko?” Hakoda turns to me with a pleading look, silently begging for a getaway, or at least help.

“Well, arranged marriage isn’t really a rule in Fire Nation’s customs,” I explicate. “I mean, there do are exceptions, but they are very rare. Actually, marriage is not really a focus point on our politics aside from the times when it is forcibly necessary to produce an heir. The unions are made with the strengthening of the high-rank bloodlines as a priority. But certainly not at age 16.”

“See, Dad?”

Hakoda sighs. “Katara, we would never bring anything that would disturb the Southern Water Tribe. We just want to make it the Tribe truer!”

“You mean it’s not true enough already?!”

“Katara…”

Katara stands up. “I’m going to excuse myself now. I’m not hungry. You all enjoy the dinner.”

“Katara!” Hakoda runs after her when she storms out of the igloo. And I attempt to stand up and follow too but lady Kanna grabs my arm to hold me back.

“It’s better if you let them talk alone, Zuko,” she says kindly. “They both need to have a proper talk about this, I don’t think Hakoda understands how sensitive this topic is for Katara.”

“Are you upset because of the North’s sudden closeness to the South like Katara is, Lady Kanna?”

“No,” she says simply. “At least not like Katara is. I think she’s afraid about our home and our traditions – like her mother’s betrothal necklace – to be tainted with the North’s much more patriarchal philosophy.”

“It is a betrothal necklace?,” I ask, a little surprised. “Katara told me it was a family heirloom.”

“In a way, it is,” she clarifies. “It is my betrothal necklace from when I was pushed into an arranged marriage in the Northern Water Tribe. When I ran off and started my own family here, it became a beloved family heirloom that I gave Hakoda to give Kya once they became engaged. Later on, Kya gave it to Katara. It doesn’t only holds the culture of our Tribe, it also holds Katara’s memories about her mom.”

“I see…”

***

“Lady Kanna,” I catch up with her later that night after dinner.

“Yes, Zuko?”

“How are Water Tribe betrothal necklaces made?”

If she’s surprised by my question, she doesn’t shows it. “They are carved in stone. The future groom has to crave a unique design and then fasten the pendant to a choker made in leather. The engagement becomes official once the future bride starts wearing it.”

“And how… Is there… Has anyone ever made a Water Tribe betrothal necklace for the marriage between two people of different nations?”

She thinks calmly for a moment. “I’m really not sure, I guess that would only serve to make the design more unique.” She smiles. “I think I’m very tired tonight, do you mind if we talk about this tomorrow?”

“No, not all. Good night, Lady Kanna.”

“You can call me…”

“Gran-Gran, I know. I’ll come around to it.”

I bow to her as a good-night departure, and watch her go inside the igloo after we all went outside to check on Katara and Hakoda after dinner.

“You know, you could have asked _me_ about the necklace.”

I jump backwards surprised by the sudden sound of Katara’s voice.

“How did you…? Wait. Did your grandmother knew you were behind me all of the time?”

“I think she did.”

I face palm myself. “Now I see that it is a family.”

“So…,” she approaches me slowly, almost as slowly as the stretched word, “Why did you want to know about the necklace?”

I turn and cross my arms. “Curiosity.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Not for nothing important?”

“Nope.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Well…,” I turn to glance at her briefly, “I mean, it is… helpful to know a little about Southern Water Tribe culture.”

“Helpful,” she deadpans with a smirk.

“Yeah. I mean, as the ruler of my country, I have to know a lot about worldwide stuff.”

“And one of them simply _has_ to be a betrothal necklace?”

“I am working for a world in which the nations can live in harmony again. And not only still in segregation, but also as close as they want to be. I don’t want the Fire Nation to believe themselves unrightfully superior, and I don’t want the rest of the world to be angry or fearful of us. I want multiculturalism, and that includes different marriages.”

I look into Katara’s blue eyes that outstand the most amongst the white snow.

“And I want people to respect other cultures. Like, if we get married, for example.”

“If we get married?”

“If we get married,” I repeat, “I want to know about the Southern Water Tribe, because I know what it means to you.”

She takes a step closer to me, until our bodies are almost touching, and meets my eyes intently but with a soft glow in her own.

“If we get married… how is everybody in the Fire Nation gonna take it? What are you gonna do about them?”

“If we get married, it would be because I _chose_ to marry you. Because I, as the head leader of the Fire Nation, made such as decision even with my country in mind. Because I would never do anything that isn’t in the best interest for the Fire Nation. And I would make myself clear on that; that I would be bringing an equal companion to me, to aid me to rule honorably over my country and to work along with the rest of the nations towards a world where we can all live in together. I would be choosing an admirable companion, who earned said title by fighting for the ones that needed it, including the Fire Nation itself, and who would bring hope and strength to the people I look to inspire and protect in my new reign and the new era I’m looking to build.”

We stare at each other in silence for a few beats, until Katara smirks.

“If we get married.”

“If we get married.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Author's Note that nobody asked for, I really tried to post my interpretations on how each nation sees marriage and etc. I see a lot of fics talking about arranged marriage for Zuko because the high functionaries are desperate for him to choose a fiancée, even at age 16, but having such a tradition that matches so much the patriarchal philosophies of the Southern Water Tribes contradicts everything that we have seen in the lack of gender roles from the Fire Nation's part. Besides, we have seen no evidence that this is a common practice in the country. 
> 
> Mai was the eldest from the Fire Nation's girl trio and the eldest child of a high functionarie, but she apparently could date just any boy that she wanted. And remember Roku's wedding? When Sozin pulled him aside to tell him about his comunist vision and plans and Roku encouraged him to loosen up and dance with someone? They were both what? In their early thirties, tops? But Sozin was STILL single? Not arranged marriage at a young age around? Not even a CENTURY before Zuko was born? Mmmmmmm...


	6. Where I belong (Power Couple)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara prepare themselves for some royal announcements.

**Zuko**

“I supposed you would be in here,” Katara approaches me in the hall as I stare at the portraits of the past Fire Lords. My ancestors. “What are you doing? We are supposed to be preparing ourselves for the royal announcement, the servants have been looking for you everywhere to get you ready for it.”

“And I assume you escaped your own servants to come look for me.”

“Actually,” she says with a cocky smile, “I just had to ask them nicely if I could come look for you. You know we, women, are better at understanding between ourselves than men.”

I smile myself. “Yes, I know.”

I turn again to the paintings hanging grandiosely in the walls.

“What are you thinking about?” Katara’s voice breaks through my thoughts.

“My family,” I say. “My great-grandfather. My grandfather.”

“What about them?”

I smile. _That’s what Katara does_ , I think. Whenever I get into these… episodes, about my family, my supposed legacy, she acts like they – their memories, their beings – are too far away from me to touch me, to catch me now that I escaped them.

But I’ve never truly escaped them, have I? It’s their blood in my veins the one that I can’t run away from.

“I just think about them sometimes,” I explain. “I really don’t know why. Sometimes I think it is to learn from their mistakes, and other times I think…”

I feel her hand coming to cup my jaw, and gently pulling me away from the portraits in the wall. The first thing I register is her dear, beautiful blue eyes, staring at me with unbreakable faith. Unbreakable trust. An unbreakable love that I never thought myself capable to achieve and that I still don’t consider myself worthy of.

“We have to get ready to the royal announcements, my benevolent Fire Lord. The people is eager to see you there. You, their beloved leader that has guided them through the right path these past years and that will continue for plenty of years in the future.”

I smile again. She always makes me smile. She has always been one of the few things that can make me smile. “Yes.”

We stand behind the balcony’s curtains once after preparing ourselves for our entrances, listening to the ceremonial drums and the Fire Sages discourse. I glance at Katara in her regal attires and with her hair fixed exquisitely for the loose, silky waves to fall down her back and around her shoulders. With the Fire Nation’s royal headpiece adorning her top-knot.

“Your Fire Lady and Ambassador,” they say profoundly and vigorously. Proudly. “The mighty Katara.”

Katara steps outside to the balcony – indeed – mightily, exuding her innate aura of bravery and worthiness towards a world that belongs to her by earned right, for fighting against, alongside and for said world. The people receives her with a roaring applause that I hear as if I myself was in the middle of the crowd. _Mighty Katara! We love you! You’re the most beautiful!_ They are right about that part, and they are right to hail her. Katara is only the most beautiful, most powerful, most intelligent, courageous, strong… well, the most everything Fire Lady the Fire Nation has ever seen. At least on my unbiased opinion. She has worked harder for the country’s future and wellbeing than most of the past Fire Lords. Sometimes I, myself, have to take care to keep myself in track with all of her decisiveness and her projects.

She’s perfect.

Well, not _perfect_ , but just _Katara-perfect_. Which is pretty close to _perfect_ , again, in my unbiased opinion.

“And now presenting your formidable ruler,” the Fire Sages announce, “Fire Lord Zuko.”

I step out to my own roar of applauses, next to Katara, where I belong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday's and today's chapter delivered. I know, I know, I'm on fire!


	7. Astral (Soulmates)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Avatar goes to a daytrip around a new town and they find an opportunity to learn more about their Sheng Xiao (Chinese Zodiac) signs.

**Katara**

_And there goes a group of trees… And there is another group of trees… And there is another group of trees…_

_Okay, I think I already got tired of this game._

Toph and I both grunt together looking down over the edge of Appa’s saddle for how _boring_ things have been lately; we have spent _days_ merely flying over quiet forests and empty fields without even any breeze to remember us that we are alive. Not even Sokka has the inspiration to make a sarcastic joke, and that’s saying something.

I sigh.

And Toph sighs louder.

“What’s wrong, guys?” Ever the optimist, Aang turns to us from his place in his Appa’s head with his ever so bright gray eyes and even brighter smile.

Toph, Sokka and I take a deep breath before exhaling “Nothing”.

“Is there any assassin that wants to cut off our heads around here?,” Toph wonders. “It doesn’t has to be cutting our heads, only roasting us alive is fine!”

“No,” I say, “Only trees.”

“ _Killing_ trees?”

“They look pretty diplomatic to me.”

“Shoot!”

“What’s going on with you?,” Aang questions.

“C’mon, Twinkle toes! Not even _you_ can be all cheery and bubbly when there’s just _nothing_ to do!”

“What do you mean ‘there’s nothing to do’?,” Aang blinks dumbfounded at the statement, “We can watch the clouds and… watch the clouds and… watch more clouds and…”

Nope.

“Yeah, I think I get what you mean now,” he concedes. “But not everything is bad. I mean, I don’t hear Zuko complaining.”

Synchronized, all of us turn to look at a sleeping Zuko in a corner of Appa’s saddle, along with a sleeping Momo nestled over his stomach. The ends of Zuko’s hair bangs brush his nose as he sleeps. If it wasn’t so bizarre, I would say it’s cute, but the fact that Zuko let his guard down enough to sleep in the bare daytime only proves how tiresome our routine has been lately.

Aang shakes Zuko’s legs to wake him up.

He wakes up only _slightly_ alarmed. Like, Zuko-level alarmed. “What’s wrong?! What did I miss?!”

“Nothing, nothing. We were just talking.”

“Hey, why don’t we stop to have a little daytrip over there?,” Aang points down, and we follow his indications to a small village in the road ahead of us.

***

Turns out this daytrip wasn’t all that much of a bad idea. The village is just crowded enough to be moved and give us a change from our unamusing agenda, the plaza is filled with street sellers that have been putting into use their persuasive marketing skills on us whenever we pass across of them, and so far I’ve only have had to stop Aang from spending our money in too much pieces of antique jewelry of dubious precedence that we don’t need anyways. 

As we walk window shopping through yet another street, I stare at a sign with bright golden letters and adorned with painted stars at the top of a small booth.

“Looking for the secrets of the stars, young lady?” A woman, dressed in strange robes and capes with colors that resemble the night sky, approaches me.

“What is this stall?,” I wonder.

“It’s where I dedicate myself to tell people their fortune based on their Sheng Xiao.”

“Sheng Xiao?”

“What’s going on?,” Zuko approaches me and the woman, followed by the others. Aang’s new multiple collars and bracelets clack as he moves.

“We were just talking about the secrets in the animal signs,” the woman answers.

“Animal signs?” Sokka wonders, probably as the two of us make one of our matching family facial expressions; in this case, pronouncedly arching an eyebrow.

“It’s something for telling things about yourself based on a yearly cycle,” Zuko explains unenthusiastically, and rolling his eyes a little. “Each year is represented by an animal and stuff.”

“It’s much more than that, young man,” the woman replies. “Come in, I’ll educate you on it all.”

We all exchange a look before following her into the booth – the dark booth with space-inspired decorations on the inside along with typical folkloric ones from around these parts, and even though it’s not particularly strange, it’s still a little disconcerting.

“My name is Wenquian,” the lady announces once that we get in, “But everybody calls me Wen. And you are?...”

“We are… um… from the Earth Kingdom colonies,” I say. (It’s only a white lie.) “I am… Yumiko. And this is my brother…,” I gesture to Sokka, “Eiji.”

My chosen name earns me a “Hey” from his part that I cut off midway stomping on his foot.

“And this are our friends, Riddhi,” I point to Toph. “Feng,” I point to Aang. “And…”

“Lee,” Zuko concludes before I can come up with anything for him.

“Lee.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Wen says brightly, “Sit and put yourselves comfortable.”

We take our seats in a few cushions around a radiant purple mat that seems to glow by itself in the rather dark room. Wen takes a seat in front of us, delivering different cards with paintings of different animals in them above the mat. “Like your friend was saying outside,” she says, “the Sheng Xiao is based on a twelve-year cycle, and each year of the cycle is related to an animal amongst the rat, bull, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Different people are born under the year of each different animal, which is their birth symbol and affects their behaviors, characters and destiny. Each sign has unique personality traits to describe the person under its influence. For example, quick, one of you tell me their year of birth.”

“I will!” Toph jumps in enthusiastically and tells her birth year.

“I see that you were born in the year of the Rooster. The ones born under this sign confident and authoritative, honest and blunt.”

“That’s totally me!,” Toph points out excitedly.

“And they are flashy, egoistical, aggressive defending their opinions and it’s hard for them to accept advices.”

“That’s _totally_ you,” I say with a chuckle.

“But they compensate it good with their friendliness, loyalty, bravery, and compassion.”

“My turn!,” Sokka raises his hand eagerly and proceeds to tell Wen about his birth year. “So what am I? A tiger, right? – No, no, no! A dragon!”

“You’re a monkey.”

None of us can resist but laugh at that.

“The ones under the monkey influence smart and creative, noble and with great talents, and they are efficient at the time of launching big projects.”

“I’m starting to take the likes towards this,” Sokka smirks.

“Maybe they are a little attention-seeking and have a hard time when they are ignored or surpassed, not to mention that they tend to be show-offs, but still they are a great ear to listen and, above all, funny.”

“Whoa!,” Aang gapes. “What about me?!”

“In what year where you born?”

Uh-oh!

We all exchange a more alarmed look before Aang tells Wen: “Ah… You guess! In what year do you think I was born?”

Wen answers a date from twelve years ago.

_Figures. Why didn’t we think about that?_

“Yeah! That’s right!”

“You were born on the year of the pig and those are the most generous and honest of the animals in the Sheng Xiao. They can be tricked easily due to their gullibility, but they are understanding and tolerant, and their special talent is to feel happy over even the tiniest things.”

“Whoa, she nailed you, Twinkle toes!”

“Now me!,” I raise my hand, and I proceed to tell Wen about the year when I was born.

“Interesting, you have the polar opposite sing to your Rooster friend, the Rabbit.”

“That could explain a lot of things,” Toph mutters.

“The Rabbits are the most motherly sign in the Sheng Xui, and they are also conservative, sensitive, gracious, and with a great sense of justice. Actually, their overly sweet and tender exterior can hide a distrustful side to them, and their tendency to idealize people and things can lead them to disillusions, but still they are the most attentive and affectionate sings.”

“Whoa!,” I gasp along with the others. “That’s amazing!”

“C’mon, you guys are not falling for this, are you?”

We all turn to Zuko. “What do you mean?”

“All of this is just a bunch of coincidences! People are not defined by some animal signs!”

“Well, as a firm believer in science,” Sokka steps in, “I can say that what we have heard is pretty accurate.”

“Coincidental,” Zuko says.

“I see that we have a skeptic in here,” Wen seems amused. “Why don’t you tell me your year of birth and find out about your own character.”

Zuko shoots her an unimpressed glance, and then one at our pleading faces, until he sighs, resigned, and tells his own birth year too.

“So you were born in the year of the dog,” Wen mutters, “So you’re empathic and generous, especially with the ones in need or those that have suffered an injustice. They tend to be a little melancholic and pessimistic, but above all they are honest, kind and, expressly, loyal.”

We all turn to Zuko to see his awaited reaction.

He just stares at Wen still unimpressed and mutters and stern “Hmmm”.

“And there’s something more interesting in all of this,” Wen continues.

“What is it?,” I ask excited.

“Well, turns out that you and your skeptical friend are… well, soulmates.”

_She said what now?!_

“What?!”

“What?!”

It takes me a little to realize that the ones that spoke were me and Zuko in unison.

“Yes,” Wen remarks, “the Rabbit and the Dog are soulmates by excellence, their souls feel innately drawn to each other. Their connection is almost immediate, it’s like they knew even before they met. Looks like we have a good marriage match right here”

Well, the only thing that I have now is blazing blush climbing to my face.

Along with a deep frown when I hear the giggles coming from Sokka, Toph and Aang. Jerks!

“You know, that I mentioned all of this to you,” Wen says, “I actually have a set of jewelry with the gemstones for each of your signs, you want to see them?”

Aang, Sokka and Toph answer a heated yes. I would accompany them myself, but I’m still kind of in shock for… the recent information.

Wen takes out a box from a drawer and opens it revealing necklaces, bracelets, rings and more with simplistic designs and chains but attached to glowing jewels.

“This are the pieces for each of your signs, for the Rooster,” she hands Toph a silver ring with a jasper stone in the center. “For the Monkey,” she gives Sokka a similar ring, but golden and with an emerald instead. “For the Pig,” Aang receives a necklace holding a topaz. “And for the Rabbit and the Dog,” she hands both me and Zuko each a minimalistic necklace with a simple black leather collar, and holding a pearl in mine, and a diamond in Zuko’s.

“Would you like to buy them?,” she asks.

“Yes!” Aang answers before any of the rest of us has a chance.

We exit the booth saying goodbye to Wen and wearing our newly acquired accessories that, to be honest, at least they are _really_ pretty. We deserve something nice after everything we have been through.

“That was amazing, don’t you think, guys?!” Aang bounces excited.

“Actually, yeah,” Sokka agrees, admiring his new ring, “Maybe I could do some research on this Sheng Xiao thing.”

“Tell me when you find out more about my sign,” Toph says.

“It was very interesting, don’t you think, Zuko?,” I ask, glancing at him.

He hums unamused. “Hm-mmm, sure.”

“Why are you so low with all of this? It was fun.”

“It was also fake.”

I turn to him with my hands placed on my hips. “How do you know that it is fake? You have no power over the stars or anything.”

“And I don’t need it to know that it is fake.”

“And how do you know it then?”

“Didn’t you hear what she said about me?”

“She said nice things.”

“She said I was loyal.”

“And?”

“I’m _not_ ,” he remarks with a rather somber, more like self-deprecating tone. “I betrayed my uncle, remember? My one, real father. And then I give my back to the other members of my family when I deserted the Fire Nation. What part of that sounds loyal to you?”

I lessen my confrontational stance.

“Zuko, that’s not…”

“Never mind, it doesn’t matter,” he starts walking ahead to catch on the others.

“No, wait,” I grab his arm and hold him back. Stilling him in place to look at me. “Zuko, you’re not disloyal for any of that.”

“I said I betrayed somebody that cared about me,” he reminds me.

“Yes,” I agree, “but since then you have worked to redeem yourself, and not only at the eyes of your uncle, but also at the eyes of the world, and the people that once was against you. And I know that maybe it doesn’t really matters but… I think Wen was right when she described your sign.”

“You think?” He looks at me expectantly, openly and hopeful, wishing to hear that I believe he was any of the good things Wen said he was.

“She said you were generous towards the ones that suffered injustices, and you are. You are working to free all of the people that has suffered injustices for the past hundred years. You are a hero. A kind, honest hero.”

He backs off a little, but not too much, only enough to give himself a space to breath like every time I – _anybody_ is so affectionate to him. A not-so-faint peach blush colors his cheeks. “You… You think I’m all of that?”

“Yes.”

I throw myself forward and hug him. He catches me easily.

By the time we try to let go, I barely can give a step before the collar of my pearl necklace yanking at my neck. Zuko groans a little at the sensation too.

“Oh,” I notice that both of the pendants from our new necklaces tangled around each other, impeding Zuko and I from separating.

I untie them with a bit of effort.

“Thanks,” he says, though I don’t know if it is for untying us or for what I just said.

“You’re welcome,” I say anyways.

I let him walk ahead of me to find Sokka, Aang and Toph, meanwhile I walk holding my pearl in my fist. _Soulmates_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Each of Katara's made up names for the group has a meaning:
> 
> Yumiko: Beautiful or helpful child.  
> Eiji: Second-born son/child. (That's why Sokka called her out on it.)  
> Riddhi: Fortunate or wealthy.  
> Feng: Wind. 
> 
> Wenquian is also a name that means "refined matter".


	8. Battlefield (Agni Kai)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An inside to the characters' minds during the Agni Kai with Azula.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: I think this is pretty canon compliant, considering everything.

**Zuko**

_Pain. Hurts._ Breathe in. Breathe out. _Pain._

“Zuko!”

_Katara…_

**Katara**

I get the water out of my vial. _Don’t worry, I got this..._

I shriek at the colossal lightning with its devastating charged power crashing in front of me.

Jumping back I land/crash on my back against the floor, feeling the pain expand from my back muscles to my shoulders and ribs and from my nape to the rest of my skull, but my stomach twists in nauseous knots at the senseless, flat, somewhat erratically mindless laugh that gets to my ears.

With some difficulty – more than some difficulty – I stand up again, and see Zuko still squirming in the floor between a group of weak blazes. Soft breathy sounds that I can’t identify if as moans or words come from him. _Zuko…_

I run to him again.

_I can get to him. I know I can. I’m almost there._

A blasts of blue fire stops me.

_No! Zuko!_

With more of that perverse laugh and lightning and fire coming my way, I have no other option than to run. _Zuko…_

**Zuko**

_Katara…_

_Azula…_ (I grunt.) _Stop this…_

 _I can save Katara… I can…_ (I reach for her.) _I can’t…_

**Katara**

Azula jumps from one corner to the other towards the higher levels with her long, unevenly chopped uncombed hair swaying in the wind. “I’d rather our family physician look after little Zuzu, if you don’t mind.”

Lightning forms in her fingertips with such force that I can see the spark from my place in the floor, and as I step further back. With fluid, wavily moves more similar to the ones of a spineless raggedy doll that resemble some kind of abnormal dance, she shoots more lightning at me. I create a wave from the inland waterway surrounding the Agni Kai chamber to absorb the electricity. The smoke curtain that the clash forms gives me enough time to run before she starts blasting more jets of blue fire at me. (Thank goodness marble pillars are more nonflammable than human skin.)

_Breathe, Katara, breathe. Zuko needs you._

Carefully, like my _life_ depended on it – because it does! –, I look over my shoulder to see Zuko still on the floor, still struggling to get up.

“Zuzu, you don’t look so good,” Azula’s taunt is mocking as only _she_ can be in a situation like this. But slightly impatient. (Impatient for finding me a roasting me alive.)

(I have to get to Zuko.)

 _Of course_ she can see me now that I’ve looked over to check on Zuko! She feeds on people’s weaknesses, on their _misery_! Like… Like…

_Keep it together, Katara, Zuko needs you._

_And Azula is his sister._

That’s not a foreign thought, but it’s still not welcome at a moment like this.

I use the water from yet another of the inland waterways to shape a twirling water jet, and I direct it towards Azula’s position. But she’s not there anymore…

Hearing the scorching sound from behind me, I find Azula flying to me with her flue fire flames. (A long time ago, I told my mom the Fire Nation’s raids scared me.) (Now, with Azula’s twistedly broad smile right in front of my face, I know what truly scared feels like.)

I run. More like _escape_. Surfing through the frozen waves that I bent. (If I had the time, I would stop to think about how fun the motion is.)

Azula shoots a giant burst of blue fire – like four times a cannon ball – to melt my ice, and I slide away to another corner.

 _What a fitting time to trip over, Katara_ , I think when I crash against the cool metal bars of a grate on the floor. But it has water underneath. _Maybe I…_ I lift my gaze and find a door locked by chains. _I know what to do!_

I run to the chains and freeze the lock to polar temperatures to unleash them.

“There you are,” like a vision from my worst nightmares from the last few months, Azula comes from one of the pillars covering me, “filthy peasant!”

 _I’ll show you filthy_ , I think at her. _I’ll show you_.

_This is for the Earth Kingdom that you destroyed._

I command water whips from under the grate to go her way, but keeping them from hitting her right away. She skips them by stepping fully above the grate.

_This is for my friends you terrorized._

Moving with a grace that an act like this does not deserve, Azula aims her hand and fingers with sparks already shooting from them directly to my face.

 _This is for my friend Aang that you_ killed _._

When her fingers almost touch my nose, I raise the water from the grate to enclose us and freeze it. In place. Caging us both inside. Azula’s confused amber eyes dart around.

_And this…_

_This is for the brother that you don’t deserve._

Exhaling the air I’m holding inside my lungs, I use it to gradually melt the water around me without melting all of the ice. Freeing my arms, I command the water to continue to liquefy slowly, for me to be able to surround Azula’s wrists with the chains, and then twist her arms behind her back, forcing her to her knees when I pull the chains down and tie them around the bars of the grate.

_It is for myself, too; because I want to be merciful to you._

_Because I_ pity _you._

I command the water to descend.

Azula and I both cough and gasp, which – even with the much needed air – disturbs me, because I don’t want us to do _anything_ together for the time being. I stand up and fortify the tying of the chains. Azula grunts, so I assume they are tight enough.

_Finally!_

_Zuko!_

I run to him.

I can touch him. I finally can touch him – _Oh, gosh, Zuko!_ – I turn him up, gently cradling his head for examining him, and then resting it down – _What were you even thinking?! You weren’t, that’s the problem. That’s_ always _the problem!_ – I take the water out of my vial once more, and with my hands covered on it, I put them over his chest wound – _You were supposed to be the new Fire Lord! The one that would lead the era of peace that we wanted! That’s what we wanted! That’s what_ you _wanted!_ – I feel his heart beating – _How could you do that to me?! Letting me watch you die?! How could you?! How_ could _you?!_ – I don’t notice my tears until they start boiling my eyes, I press the wound harder – _How could…_

I open my eyes at the faint relieved sigh – _You are okay!_

“Thank you, Katara,” his voice is merely a whisper, but it resembles the sound of sea breeze.

He looks so openly vulnerable, it’s painful. Like he was a wound in me.

The tears I was holding back spill with one blink of my eyes. “I think I’m the one that should be thanking you.”

_I love you, Zuko._

_I love you, love you, love you._


	9. Nice to meet you, old enemy (Partners in crime)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While on the Invasion, Katara and Zuko follow the plan to cause trouble for the Fire Nation, but they meet face to face with an old enemy.

**Zuko**

Katara rides Appa up to the higher battlements, and Sokka and I take our positions hanging from Appa’s horns. Drawing out our swords, we slice through and through the end of the missile launchers on our way. Turns out this was a pretty good idea from his part.

Some of the fortifications are too dug into the walls of the city and the cliffs for Appa to fly so swiftly through them without us getting caught, so mister Hakoda throws some bombs inside of those, blowing the building and making the soldiers run away.

I don’t know if to feel victorious or disappointed over the mediocrity of my home country’s own soldiers. 

Katara takes her bending stance and with enough force she breaks the two barrels of water on Appa’s sides, shaping herself water tentacles on each arm. Once we fly pass yet another battlement, I catch a glance of the terrorized soldiers ready to launch another missile at us, before Katara freezes them along with the launcher itself.

I feel the corner of my mouth moving upwards in a smirk.

Katara lands Appa on a cliff between two of the still active battlements, and we all jump off to the ground to divide ourselves into two groups.

“Zuko, Katara,” Sokka calls us out. “You two take out that battlement,” he points to the one to the right, “Our dad and I will take care of this one,” he points to the one to the left. “Watch each other’s backs!”

We observe them run to their respective target – not without mister Hakoda giving me an “I’m-watching-you” sign over Sokka’s shoulder directing his fingers to his eyes and then at me.

“What was that about?,” Katara wonders, not missing the gesture.

I cringe a little, “It’s nothing.” (A father’s a father, apparently. Even in the middle of a battlefield.)

We run together to our assigned battlement, and I use my swords to slice the gates’ lock to get in. Predictably, there are plenty of soldiers inside, ready to attack us, the intruders. Katara launches her still active water tentacles at them to throw them against the walls and freeze them in place, I knock down all of the others that attempt to attack her from behind her back.

Finally with all of them down, I climb up to the missile launcher and stab at the control panel, also slicing the end of the machinery, turning it useless beyond repair. (I think I’m starting to feel victorious already.)

“You seems like you take pleasure in this, Prince Zuko.”

I stiffen frozenly at the familiar – not particularly dear – voice. I turn find Zhao – of _all_ people – holding two swords against Katara’s neck, immobilizing her.

“What are you doing here, Zhao?,” I demand, not very hardly bringing old hostility into my voice.

“I am a Fire Nation admiral I have to be at the front in all battles. And I supposed you would be the one that was behind the Invasion,” he answers, meeting my eyes blankly, but with his ever creepy, sadistic smirk making the corners of them to wrinkle slightly. “Why commit a crime as despicable as treachery if you weren’t planning on a big hit?”

“I don’t consider it a crime,” I say. “And I’m not the one that planned all of this.”

“That only makes you look even more pathetic,” he retorts affronted, his eyes now angry, but his smirk still there, awaiting to take pleasure in my angry reactions. “You’re the pawn of a group of uncultured, weak savages with clear suicidal desires for invading the Fire Nation.”

“I think your soldiers can confirm that we are quite alive as of now,” Katara answers with a wry smile, even with the blades pressing on the skin of her throat.

Zhao presses them further. “Silence, brute. This is a Fire Nation matter.”

“Let her go, Zhao,” I grit through my teeth. My body tenses and heats when I notice the thin trail of blood sliding through Katara’s neck, like I was one of the Fire Nation’s missiles overheated in the path to its target.

“You look very concerned for a mere accomplice in your crimes, Prince Zuko,” Zhao (supposedly) observes, his smirk turning more disgusting with each beat that passes.

“I said,” I remark, still through my clenched, on the brink of shattering, teeth, “ _let. Her. Go_.”

“I don’t take orders from you,” he says cockily, pretending might. “Nobody does.”

“And you think I care?!” Distantly, as though in a dream, I hear my screams coming through the echo of the metal walls.

I point one of my swords accusingly to him. “You don’t know me, Zhao! You have never known me! Nobody in the Fire Nation ever did! So stop looking at me like you know exactly who I am or who I was, because I’m not that person anymore.”

“I have known you since you were a child.”

“You knew my old self. _This_ ,” I point to myself, to my unkempt clothes and disheveled long hair, “is who I am now.”

“Disappointing then,” he answers flatly. “Pull down your swords.”

I grip them tighter.

Like he presses his own swords tighter against Katara’s neck. “ _I_ said: Pull them down.”

I gulp. And let go of my swords for them to clack against the floor.

“Get back down,” he orders. “Slowly.”

I look at Katara, watching her watching me. I take a step forward.

And I launch a massive blast fire to come dangerously close to Zhao’s head – not burning his goatee, but I would have _paid_ for having that chance.

“You’re turning sloppy, Prince Zuko,” Zhao mocks. “You don’t even have your aim anymore.”

With a fluent movement of her bare hand, Katara turns the sweat my fire produced on Zhao’s skin into a cutting blade, slicing his cheek.

I smirk.

Zhao cries in pain and drops one of his swords to the floor, only for Katara to dig her elbow in his stomach, pushing him farther back.

“What do you think about _my_ aim?” She bends the water she had let go before and shapes the discarded ponds into a dense current that hits Zhao hardly at his core, shoving him against one of the walls – against which he crashes strongly – and freezing him.

I secure my swords before sliding down the stairs to the lower floor.

Taking Katara’s hand, I pull her towards the gates, “We have to get out of here!”


	10. Just friends? (Fake Dating)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty Lee proposes the Fire Nation gang to spend a weekend in Ember Island like in the good old times, but at the prospect of spending a weekend alongside Mai and her new boyfriend Kei Lo, Zuko asks for the help of his good friend Katara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like Mai as a character, that's why I decided to include some POVs from her. Tell me if I did the characterization properly.

**Zuko**

“You want to go on a trip to Ember Island?”

“It’s for reminiscing the old times!,” Ty Lee answers.

“You mean the ones when we hanged out with a psychotic (blue) firebender?,” Mai replies with her characteristic monotone voice. I cringe a little at the comment.

“C’mon, guys,” Ty Lee pleads, “When was the last time we did something together?”

“We are together _now_ ,” I point out.

“We are outside a court room awaiting for a trial,” she deadpans, with her ever happy face just _slightly_ stern. “This. Doesn’t. Counts.”

I glance over to Mai to check on her for the mention of her father’s trial.

“And I only came because I’m the District Attorney’s witness,” she says unbothered, from Kei Lo’s – _her new boyfriend_ – side, “so I guess you have a point in there.”

“Is healthy a little R&R after stressful situations!,” Ty Lee insists, stepping between Mai and me and putting her arms around our shoulders, “Besides, wouldn’t it be fun to spend some time together?”

I exchange a look with Mai over the corner of my eye, catching a glance to Kei Lo next to all of us. Simultaneously, we both look away; me, on my part, taking a sudden interest for the joists in the court’s roof.

“Don’t you want to come along Kei Lo?,” Ty Lee offers. (If to fix the sudden awkwardness at the “spending time together” thing, I don’t know.) (Though, in my humble opinion, it has quite the opposite effect.) “It would be a good time for all of us to get to know you better.”

Kei Lo changes his weight from one foot to the other. “You sure it would be okay?”

“Of course!,” Ty Lee reassures him, “It’s always important for the Fire Nation trio to know each other’s friends. Right, Zuko?”

“Sure. Whatever you say, Ty Lee.”

“But… wouldn’t it be weird if Mai and I were the only couple around?,” Kei Lo wonders uncertainly.

I attempt to send Ty Lee a message through my aura. _Don’t mention me and Mai. Don’t mention me and Mai. Don’t mention me and Mai!_

“Oh! What about if we all take a companion with us,” Ty Lee says. I sigh, relieved. “It will be even more fun that way!”

“Who are you going to take to, Ty Lee?,” Mai asks.

“One of the other Kyoshi Warriors! I’m sure they would _all_ love to come to a weekend getaway like this!”

“And what about _you_ , Zuko?,” Mai questions my way.

This is one of the moments when I would welcome a sudden attempt on my life.

“Yeah, what about you, _Fire Lord_?,” Kei Lo pushes forward with a ridiculous cocky smirk and an air of superiority that I’m not sure if I envy or I repulse.

“I… um…”

“You could bring some of your _friends_ , if you want to,” Mai says. I frown at the way she says _friends_ like it’s some sort of dirty word.

“Yeah, Zuko, bring your _friends_.” (Does he has to repeat just _anything_ that she says?)

“Um… I think they are busy.”

Kei Lo snorts.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to ask them to come, Zuko,” Mai says, “You can say it.”

“It’s not that,” I say, growing angrier at the tone of her voice.

“Then what is it?”

“I just don’t think they would want to come.”

“Such good friends then.”

“It’s not that either,” I state.

“Didn’t you just say that you didn’t think they would want to come?”

“Yes, but because they are busy, not because… whatever you’re saying.”

“I’m not saying anything.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Whatever,” she dismisses me. “So who are you going to bring then?”

“I… um…”

“It would be weird if you’re the only one alone, Fire Lord,” Kei Lo taunts.

“Of course it wouldn’t!,” Ty Lee steps in to (attempt) to defend me. “You can totally come alone, Zuko.”

“Yeah, it would be fine,” Mai agrees, bored. “But we would have a problem in the numbers, wouldn’t we?”

“It would be better if you didn’t come, then,” Kei Lo continues.

“I am going with someone,” I explode all of sudden.

“Really?,” Ty Lee gapes at me. “With whom?”

“With my… um… girlfriend.”

(Where did that come from?)

Mai apparently chokes on air alone. “You have a _girlfriend_?”

“Yes.” (Seriously, where is _this_ coming from?)

“Why didn’t you tell us?,” Ty Lee inquires. “Who is she?,” Mai says. Both under Kei Lo’s slightly confused but expectant stare.

“She is…” (Okay, I have to think quick! Somebody. Somebody that could be my girlfriend. Somebody that I know. Some girl. Just _any_ girl!) “Katara!,” I say. “Katara,” I repeat, muttering.

***

**Katara**

“You _what_?!”

“I don’t know what happened!,” Zuko is quick to defend himself, half-hysterical. “You didn’t see it, Katara, they were looking at me with those pitying and jeering looks that just made me…”

“Zuko, you should be ashamed of yourself!” I point an accusing finger at him.

“And I do am,” he admits. “But I just need you to help me with this!,” he joins his hands in a pleading gesture, “Please, Katara! I’ll do whatever you want!”

“Forget it!,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. (I can’t believe he brought me here under the promise of a tea time for this.) “I’m not joining this farce!”

“Please, Katara! _Please!_ ,” he repeats.

I sustain my stance.

“I will kiss your feet.”

And I swear to Spirits that he kneels on the floor in front of me. The sight is only _more_ than baffling with him on his Fire Lord attires. Though, to be fair, I think the servants are more surprised than me on this one. “I’ll kiss the ground they step on!”

“What?!”

“I’m not _above_ it.”

“Zuko, stand up already!” I try to pull him up by his shoulders, but damn his muscles! What’s the point in having them if they’re gonna make you so heavy?!

He surrounds my waist with his arms, hugging me and stilling me in place like a padlock. “Please, Katara! _Please!_ I’ll never ask for anything ever again! I’ll beg, plead and grovel if that’s what it takes! I’ll establish a national Katara Day in the Fire Nation! I’ll have you have free tea in all of the Fire Nation tea shops for the rest of your life! I’ll have Uncle name a tea after you! Spirits, I’ll name my _children_ after you if that’s what you want! Just help me out with this!”

He’s crazy. He’s gone plain crazy. That’s the _only_ explanation for _any_ of this. I _knew_ we shouldn’t have let him spend so much time with the pressures of ruling alone. I bite my lip, glancing at the servants; half trying to save Zuko’s personal image from further damage, half looking for a way out of this.

“Zuko…”

“Please, Katara. Please, please, please, please, please, please, _please_!”

“Zuko, people is watching!”

“Tell you what,” he looks up to me with wide, childlike, suppliant eyes; it’s hard to believe they’re the ones of a fully settled Fire Lord – or from the boy anguish boy that used to bully my friends around, “Say that you’ll help me with this ‘weekend getaway’ thing, and I’ll get up.”

I stare back at him, frowning. “Zuko.”

“Did I say _please_ already?”

I roll my eyes.

“We will be staying at the Ember Island Royal Family Mansion,” he continues, “I’ll give you the room with the sea view this time, I _swear_!”

I look down at him again. With his eyes like this, he kinda looks like a wounded kitten lynx. Maybe it wasn’t the pressures of ruling the ones that drove him crazy, maybe it was something in the tea we were drinking; because apparently I succumbed to the same insanity. I sigh.

“Okay. Alright. I guess I could – ”

“ _Yes!_ ” He hugs my waist tighter. “You’re the _best_!”

“Yeah, yeah, but stand up already!” (Turns out having the Fire Lord kneeling in front of you is far more embarrassing than what I thought.)

***

**Zuko**

The trip wasn’t scheduled until I had some clear time from my royal duties, and it gave us the time for the fuzz over Ukano’s trial to cool down – (I wonder if Mai is really as okay as she seems with all of this) – but since we couldn’t afford the time for Katara to travel back to the South Pole to inform her family about the recent change of plans, I arranged for her to stay in the Fire Palace and she wrote to everyone back home to inform that she would staying in the Fire Nation a little longer than planned.

I also solicited the royal tailors to design and then fabricate a whole new Fire Nation wardrobe for her to wear during the trip and her future visits to the Fire Palace. (It’s not overcompensating, I just… thought it would be nice.)

(And a little to make Katara stop giving me the cold shoulder while we wait for the trip.) (Doesn’t she knows how bad _that_ feels for firebenders?)

When the day finally arrives, Katara and I sail in one of the Royal ferries to Ember Island. Alone, because Ty Lee was in a mission along the Kyoshi Warriors around the forests and Mai said she would pick her up in one of her father’s former war globes.

“Thanks again for helping me with this trip, Katara,” I say.

She glances at me through the corner of her eye, but says nothing.

“Do you like the new clothes that I ordered for you?” I eye the outfit that she picked up for today: a candy apple red silk top, with a gold ring with Fire Nation and Water Tribe inscriptions holding at its halterneck, and a cherry red, open leg long skirt with a ruby red pareo and brown leather gladiator sandals.

She is very beautiful.

She shrugs at my question, still without a word. I scratch at the back of my neck.

“I owe a whole lot for this.”

“You _certainly_ do.”

“I thought you were okay with this,” I say, wearily.

“I’m okay with _helping_ you,” she clarifies, “I’m not okay with getting in the middle of a lie.”

“It’s not lying, I just…” I sigh. What’s the point in explaining myself?

“Why didn’t you follow Ty Lee’s advice of coming alone?,” she asks.

“I didn’t want to be alone with Kei Lo and Mai,” I admit.

I listen to the silence of her non-immediate answer. “Does it bothers you that Mai moved on already?”

“It’s not that. I have always felt out of place even among my Fire Nation friends. Going in a vacation with my ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend only makes it even worse.”

It feels weird to say this out loud, it always seems so nonsensical like it’s not – like it _shouldn’t_ be worth the time.

“Why didn’t you tell me about it before?,” Katara wonders.

Now it’s my turn to shrug.

“Okay, maybe I haven’t made things easy for you to tell me about it.”

“You think?”

“I was angry at you,” she acknowledges, “but I’m not anymore. Let’s start over with this weekend, besides it’ll be fun.”

“If you say so,” I say, not very convinced.

Katara comes from behind me and hugs me by the shoulders. “It’ll be fun. And maybe it’s a good time for you to loosen up for a change.”

“Hey, I do loosen up!,” I defend myself.

“You don’t even know what ‘loosen up’ means.”

“And?”

She laughs. “C’mon, Zuko, if I’m doing this for you, take this chance to let go for a while.”

I don’t answer.

“ _Please?_ ” She jabs at my sides with her finger, tickling me.

“Okay, okay. I’ll try,” I say between chuckles.

A knock sounds at the door of our cabin, and when I give permission to come in one of the guards announces: “Fire Lord Zuko, Master Katara, we have arrived at the Ember Island pier.”

**Katara**

We jump off-board. Zuko helps me get down by himself, dismissing the guards in line to do so.

“Zuko, Katara!”

We both turn to see Ty Lee waving and running towards us, with Mai and a boy and a girl that I don’t know but who I assume are the famous Kei Lo and Ty Lee’s Kyoshi Warrior friend behind her, though Mai and Kei Lo much less enthusiastically.

“You could make it!” Ty Lee hugs Zuko as a salute, and then me.

“How did you guys get here before us?,” Zuko wonders.

“Travelling by air is faster than travelling by sea, Zuko,” Mai states matter-of-factly. And a little rudely.

“Now that we are all here, let’s introduce everyone formally,” Ty Lee intercedes before the conversation can become further hostile. Which is odd considering how oblivious she seems to the tension. “Zuko, Katara, this is my friend Tama from the Kyoshi Warriors. Tama, these are Fire Lord Zuko and Katara from the Souther Water Tribe.”

Tama – a pretty girl with light brown hair styled in a low ponytail, olive skin and hazel eyes – shakes my hand amicably. “We have met already.”

“We have?,” I inquire.

“Yeah, I… was one of the Warriors that ambushed you and your brother when you first visited Kyoshi Island with the Avatar.”

I clasp my fingers. “Oh, right, _now_ I remember you!”

“And Katara, I’m sure you remember Mai,” Ty Lee continues.

“Hey, Katara,” Mai greets with a small smile that at least appears sincere enough. “Nice to see you again.”

“And this is…”

“Kei Lo! Is my pleasure.” The boy from before just jumps in front of Ty Lee to introduce himself, shaking my hand way too fervently and… and… I could _swear_ that I see his eyes turning into hearts.

I feel Zuko tense from behind me. “Well then,” he steps between the Kei Lo guy and me, completely blocking my sight of him, “now that we have all introduced between ourselves, shall we get going?”

**Mai**

Zuko has us walk to his Ember Island beach house. (I don’t get why he insists much in doing things by himself, he has servants for a reason.)

His bodyguards make a circle around us, shielding our group from all fronts in a way that reminds me a little too much of life at Omashu – New Ozai – Whatever that ridiculous city’s name is. Makes me feel weird. Like I could shiver. If I had ever shivered in my entire life.

Predictably, Ty Lee gapes once that we get to the recently renovated Royal Beach House. “Whoa, the house looks beautiful, Zuko!” She pirouettes from one side to the other, admiring the décor and the new accessories.

“Are you kidding me?,” I say, “What’s with the super bright colors, Zuko? Are you giving the sun a run for its money, or…?”

“It wasn’t really my idea, I hired professional decorators for it.”

“It looks amazing, Zuko!,” Katara exclaims, (the only thing that sparkles more than this decoration are her eyes, it’s kinda hard to stare too long at them), “Though, I think I still liked it better the way it was before.”

“You mean when it barely had any paint or furniture and we had to make our ways to do something as simple as cooking?,” Zuko teases with a smirk.

“Yep!” Katara jumps and hugs him by the shoulders.

 _Puaj!_ Can anybody say _cheesy_?

“You had come here before, Katara?,” Ty Lee questions.

“All of Team Avatar lived in here for a while when we prepared ourselves for Sozin’s Comet.”

“Oh, sounds exciting!,” Ty Lee – ever the idealist – says, “Mai and I never really came here, not even when we hanged out with Azula, remember, Mai?”

 _Or when we hanged out with Zuko_ , I want to add. Zuko never even made the effort to introduce me to this things about him. And it’s not like I care all that much, but it would have been _nice_ from his part at least. But who does he chooses to share his time with? A bunch of kids who have known him for, what? A year, tops?

The servants all show us to our rooms, and Kei Lo and I decide to share a room together. I drag him by the arm and close the door behind us.

**Zuko**

“No offense, Zuko, but Mai doesn’t seems… well…”

“Thrilled?,” I offer.

“Not particularly, no. Especially about… well,” Katara clears her throat, “seeing you.”

“It’s okay, she has always been like this.”

I lay down in the bed of our shared room – for keeping up appearances sake. (I think I didn’t really think this plan through.)

Katara lays next to me. “You guys had a bad breakup?”

“Sort of,” I sigh. “But I don’t think it is all because of the breakup. But I mean, we did have a bad breakup, really, I think I never apologized for being such a jerk to her. I said some things…” I facepalm myself, “I shouldn’t have acted the way I did.”

Katara softly wraps her fingers around my hand and takes it down from my face. “Maybe you can take this chance to apologize for it.”

A knock sounds on the door. “Guys,” it’s Ty Lee’s voice, “do you want to go to the beach for a while?”

“Oh, sure!” Katara beams and stands up to take out her beach stuff. “I feel like I haven’t surfed in _ages_!”

**Katara**

Zuko, Ty Lee, Tama, Kei Lo, Mai and I go down to the beach to a reserved space for us in the exclusive side, and where it is less crowded. While all of the glamourous part of reserved beaches and all is fun, it kinda would be better if we didn’t have the bodyguards following us around like a group of new shadows.

“Katara, I _adore_ your swimsuit!” Ty Lee tells me once we settle in the sand.

“No way! I _adore_ yours!” I take an appreciative look at her pretty halter top white bikini with pink strikes that contrasts outstandingly to my simply crimson red strapless one.

“It’s so nice that you’re here,” she says, “Mai and I always wanted to have a friend for whom we didn’t… um… have to worry that she would shot lightning at us. Sorry, Zuko.”

“It’s okay,” he assures.

And I don’t if it is that I’m worrying too much but… I worry.

“So you know how to surf then?,” Ty Lee picks up an interest in my new surfboards that Zuko ordered to fabricated for me.

“Yep,” I say. And glancing at Zuko, I add: “Though, I could have made myself some surfboards with my waterbending.”

“Well, _forgive_ me for not wanting your boards to melt under the sun.”

“You worry too much,” I decide to keep my previous thought to myself.

But as though he could read my mind, Zuko smirks and says: “Look who’s talking.”

I bump him lightly on the shoulder.

“ _Awwwwwww!_ ,” Ty Lee coos, “Aren’t you two just the cutest couple?!”

“Now that you mention it,” Mai cuts in, “How did you two started dating anyways?”

Uh-oh!

“We… um… uh…”

“Mai!,” Ty Lee reprimands, “You can’t ask something like that? Don’t you remember that Katara used to date Aang?”

“And?”

“Aang is Zuko’s _friend_ ,” Ty Lee pronounces, “Obviously it’s awkward for them to talk about something like that.”

_No more awkward than when you say it out loud at a moment like this._

“Wait,” Kei Lo jumps into the conversation, “You dated the _Avatar_?”

I wince a little. “Yeah… for a while… we…”

“I think that we shouldn’t be talking about that right now,” Zuko intervenes, placing himself behind me in a supportive manner, I feel his bare chest nearly touching the skin of my back.

“You’re right,” Ty Lee concedes, “Let’s better talk about Katara giving the rest of us a surfing lesson.”

Grabbing mine and Mai’s hand, she yanks us forward towards the ocean.

***

**Zuko**

“Congratulations, Fire Lord,” Kei Lo says while we watch the girls practice surfing under Katara’s guidance.

I drift my gaze from them to him. “For what?”

“For hitching a girl like her,” he gestures to the ocean – to Katara smiling in it – with his chin.

My eyes narrow, there’s something in his voice – some sort of insinuation – that I don’t like. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that she has high-standards, and that she clearly knows how to attract powerful guys,” he comments casually, like we are talking about the weather. “I would enjoy the attention while I could, if I was you. Girls like that never stay happy in just one place.”

I grit my teeth, and make the effort to let go of the towel that I didn’t notice I was gripping too hard. “ _What?_ ”

“Just saying. I mean, I guess you must be used to gold-diggers by now…”

“ _Gold-diggers?!_ ”

“Zuko, can you come here, please?” I hear Katara’s voice calling me out.

I’m not going to say it is an easy task – because it’s not – but I swallow my anger at Kei Lo (just for the time being), and I walk to her in the waves.

“What’s wrong?,” I ask.

She jabs at my chest with her finger. “You tell me, whatever it was that was going on with you and Kei Lo.”

“How do you know there was something going on?”

“You were burning one of the towels,” she explains straightforward, “I could see the smoke from over here.”

I look away, avoiding to meet her eyes. “It was nothing.”

He arms fly to surround my neck, and for steadying her in the strong current I surround her waist with my own arms. Her skin is warm and wet from the sun and salty water. “C’mon, tell me.”

“He was… He was saying some things about you.”

“Things like what?”

“It doesn’t matter, they were nonsense. But still I didn’t like them. I overall don’t like him. Especially the way he looks at you.”

“How does he looks at me?”

“Kinda like Sokka looks at the meat.”

Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t looks like she doesn’t know if to be bewildered or amused.

“Okay…,” she stretches the word as the indecision passes and leaves her face. “Ignore him. You already said he was talking nonsense, it makes even less sense to pay attention to him. He kind of reminds me of a guy that we met at the North Pole, Han.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He too was a jerk to boys and girls alike.”

I snicker. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You feeling better now?”

“Yeah.” Being with Katara always makes me feel better. “Thank you, Katara.”

***

**Katara**

We spend the whole afternoon at the beach, and Ty Lee could get a hold of surfing surprisingly fast, but by nighttime she decides to take us all to the Ember Island Arcade that apparently she, Mai and Zuko visited along with Azula in their last visit to Ember Island. The place turns out to be quite nice and luminous, like a big party right in the middle of the beach. We walk around the different games until we stop at an archery one.

“Hey, guys, what about if we play on this one?” I point to it.

“You know archery?,” Zuko asks me.

“No, but I can learn,” I grab his arm and yank him to the booth.

Turns out archery is not as easy as it looks but after I had to teach myself waterbending for 14 years, pfft! This is nothing! I have a little trouble keeping the toy arrows from deviating while I’m still holding them in the bow, but…

“Let me help you with that,” Zuko offers with a smile.

He positions himself behind me, putting one of his hands to gently support the one with which I’m holding the bow, and the other one to slowly pull down my shoulder for the arm with which I’m tensing the string isn’t too high. Remember what I said a few days ago about his muscles? Maybe the point in having them is that they make your grip pleasantly rougher… and that they make girls to feel safer while you’re holding them.

I shoot the arrow supporting myself on him… and I hit the target right in the center. “Yes! I did it!”

“With my help,” he reminds.

“We _both_ did it!”

“What prize would you like to collect, young lady?,” the man in charge of the booth points to a set of stuffed animals hanging in metal hooks above us.

I tap my chin with my finger. “Mmmmmm… The koala otter!” I point to it.

He takes the koala otter down and hangs it over to me. “A lovely koala otter for an equally lovely young lady.”

I hug it tightly. “ _Awwwwwwww!_ It’s so cute!”

Mai hums, “If you say so.”

“Guys, let’s order something to eat. I’m starving!” Ty Lee runs to the closest free table, bringing Tama with her by grabbing her hand.

We all follow and order a menu of waffles – that I understand are kind of saved for special occasions here in the Fire Nation – along with fruit tarts and smoothies.

This weekend getaway truly has been more fun than what I expected, I could have never imagined myself spending a vacation with Mai and Ty Lee and not ending up paralyzed and with stiletto knifes nailing me to a wall. Life can surprise you!

Though, the best part of all of this is helping Zuko to relax a little. Truthfully, it’s always hard to make him be part of the fun even when we are with our friends. Next time I worry about him stressing too much, I’ll bring him to a trip to Ember Island.

“Oh, I love this song,” Ty Lee exclaims once the local band starts playing a song that I do not recognize. “You want to dance, Tama?”

“I would love to!” They both stand up from the table and go to the dance floor in the middle of the arcade, moving at the rhythm of the music.

“You want to dance, Mai?,” Kei Lo offers his hand to her.

“Not really.”

_Ouch!_

“Neither do I,” Kei Lo makes a poor attempt to catch himself.

The four of us stay in silence after that. The tense, gloomy silence in our table clashing with the joyful music that surrounds us.

“You want to dance, Zuko?,” I ask him.

Mai snickers.

“What?,” I ask.

“Oh, nothing, Katara,” she says, “But you should make an effort to get to know your boyfriend better. Zuko hates dancing.”

“You know, Katara,” he cuts in, “I do want to dance. Let’s go.” We get up together, walking hand in hand to the dance floor.

So sad that as soon as we get there, the music is replaced by a slow song, but since we are already here…

“What was it that Mai was saying that you hate dancing?,” I inquire, putting my arms around his neck.

“She’s right, though,” he answers as his arms surround my waist and press me against him. “I hate dancing.”

“You don’t have to dance with me if you don’t want to.” We starts moving graciously at the compass of the music.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind dancing if it’s with you.”

**Mai**

“It seems like they only look for excuses to grope each other.” I stare at Zuko and his so-called girlfriend moving boringly across the dance floor.

“Well, they are a couple, I think they are right to do that,” Kei Lo says from my side.

“They don’t have to show it off so much.” Zuko and Katara continue talking as they dance, smiling and laughing nonstop.

“Aren’t you paying too much attention to them?”

I snort. “Of course not.”

Because I’m _not_. I’m not paying attention to _them_ , I’m paying attention to what they _are_ , what they _have_. To this… thing that changed Zuko into some giggly, hearty-eyed schoolboy that is helpful, and sensitive, and… whatever.

“Mai, you have been staring at them ever since the weekend started.”

“Oh, you mean the same way you have been staring at _Katara_?”

Kei Lo pales at my insinuation.

“What? You think I didn’t notice? You have been drooling over her curvy waist ever since the pier.”

“I… I just…”

“No worries, Kei Lo. I’m not going to bark at you for it.”

“What?”

“Shouldn’t you be happy? You can do check out whatever girls you want.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” As imperturbable as I am, his scream _does_ calls out my attention.

“If you’re not into us, you can just say so,” he says, “you don’t have to go around saying that it’s okay if I check out other girls.”

“So you do admit you were checking her out.”

“ _I’m_ repeating what you said! And what I am supposed to answer to that, that you can check out other guys, too?”

I roll my eyes. “Of course I’m not going to go around checking other guys out.”

“Is that your way to call me a ‘dog’?”

“I’m not calling you anything.”

“Could you please just say what you want to say?! I’m sick of second-guessing with this thing that you have for Zuko!”

“What thing do I have for Zuko?”

“You’re obsessed with him! You can’t spend two minutes without talking about something that he did, or something that he said, or some creepy place where he took you!”

“Well, forgive me for having a life before I met you, Kei Lo.”

“You know what? I’m done! We’re through!”

“You don’t get to break up with me! _I’m_ the one that’s breaking up with _you_!,” I yell after him as he exits the table, and the arcade. The arcade that is now all looking straight at me. Including Zuko and Katara.

 _Perfect_.

***

**Katara**

Ty Lee runs to Mai as soon as the shock washes over and hugs and comforts her, though I’m not sure how much Mai needs it.

“I’m so sorry, Mai! He’s a jerk. He doesn’t deserves you.”

Mai shrugs uninterestedly.

“Um… Guys?” Ty Lee turns to Zuko and me. “Maybe it would be better if you two left for the night. No offense, Zuko, but you two here would be making things more awkward than what they already are.”

“Right,” he agrees. “We will see you at the beach house then.”

“Why don’t you tell the same thing to your guards?,” I propose when we get to the door.

“What?”

“We can walk back home alone, and them following us around is a little creepy. Let’s dismiss them for the night and wait until they leave for us to walk alone.”

Zuko thinks for a moment. “Okay.”

We follow the plan to give the guards the rest of the night off, and we hide ourselves watching them leave until we are safe to step out.

“Well, that was…” I trail off as we both walk hand in hand back to the beach house.

“Awkward? Most of the things that happen to me are awkward.”

“Hey, don’t be self-centered enough to say that _this_ happened to you.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” he concedes. “But it kinda reminded me of the first time that we broke up.”

“Why?”

“For all of the people in the place staring at us.”

I can’t help but giggle a little at that. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s something that I can laugh now, too.”

“You know, that Kei Lo guy really had a bad vibe.”

“ _No_ , really? I wonder who said _that_ before.”

I smack him lightly on the arm for the uncalled sarcasm – I have enough of that from Sokka – and he laughs.

“But you were right about ignoring him, the rest of the day was way easier that way.”

“Glad to be helpful.”

“Being with you is always helpful.”

We walk a few steps in silence, listening to the waves and the resumed distant music from the arcade near us.

“You know, Katara,” Zuko says, “being with you always makes me feel a little better. Like not so… me. Like I’m at peace. Finally.”

“Really?” I blush a little.

“Yeah,” he repeats. “You… You are...”

I stop in my tracks, pulling him stop too and turn to look at me.

“I’m what?,” I ask.

“You’re like… my harmony. Like… you make me happy.”

“I do?”

“Yes.”

We stare at each other in silence for a while. Until I raise myself on the tip of my toes and kiss him.


	11. Perfect (Dragon)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko takes Katara on a trip in Druk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aladdin-y much?

**Katara**

Sitting on the Fire Palace’s roof, I stare up to the sky.

The sky here is so different than from back home’s, it’s… well, _fiery_. In the South Pole, the sky is either clear like peaceful lakes, or stormy like a profound sea, here in the Fire Nation the sun is always lighting up the sky, and tinting it in bright colors that I never knew the sky could have until I left the Poles. I never knew it could be so golden at midday and so fired up at sunset. Like now, it looks like one of Zuko’s flames with the red, and orange, and yellow tones; I wonder if firebenders can inspire themselves on the sky for when casting their blazes. I wonder if Zuko does.

Talking about the Fire Lord of the Fire Nation, I stand up from my sitting spot upon the sound of wings dashing my way, making space for little Druk to land. (Not so little, but you get the idea.)

“Hey, Katara.” Zuko jumps off from Druk as I approach them both to caress our dragon friend. He somewhat purrs in response. (Is purring a thing among dragons?)

“How was your flight, your Fireiness?” I play my fingers around Druk’s rough but slide-y scaly ears.

“Uplifting,” Zuko passes his hand over Druk’s back rewardingly, “Druk is the best way to travel. Right, buddy?”

Druk half-roars in agreement.

“Don’t let Appa hear you saying that,” I say.

“Right,” Zuko agrees – awkwardly, may I add. “Druk is in a pretty even tie to be the best way to travel.”

Druk turns to him with an angry expression, grunting, and baring a piece of his teeth.

“Hey, I said ‘pretty even tie’!”

“Don’t listen to him, Druk,” I stretch my arms over him, doing a poor attempt of a hug when he’s so big. “You know he isn’t very good with words.”

Druk leans into my touch making another of those peculiar purring sounds.

“You two are made for each other,” Zuko observes dryly. “And what are you doing up here, Katara? I thought you would be tired for the trip from the South Pole.”

“I am,” I admit, “but I came here to think for a while.”

“Thinking about what?”

I’m not about to tell him that I was thinking if firebenders could inspire themselves in the sky. “Just things,” I say instead. “And besides, you know that I love watching the Fire Nation’s sunset.”

Zuko’s golden eyes (the tint of the sky makes them look solid gold) raise briefly, before his face brightens up with the corner of his mouth curving upwards.

“Hey, I have an idea!” He climbs up on Druk again. “You don’t mind going for another ride, pal?”

Druk roars energetically, ready for action.

“What are you doing?,” I ask.

Zuko offers me a hand. “Climb up, I’ll show you something incredible.”

I look at his hand, then back at him. Then I take his hand and we both impulse me up to Druk’s saddle, behind Zuko’s back.

“Hang on to something,” Zuko says, “Druk can get a little carried away while flying.”

I surround his waist with my arms, just tightly enough not to crush him. (Damn, his abs!) (Not that I am… Forget it.)

He commands Druk to raise himself from the rooftop and drives him away from the Fire Palace, up through the flame-colored sky. The clouds brush past us as we race, they tickle my skin and leave it watery. Zuko directs Druk to fly through the Capital City, the latter which appears like it was made in its entirety by rubies for the colors and shadows the dusk paints it, and to the cliffs and walls enclosing the city.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Druk rises even more for overstepping the cliffs, and everything turns… gold. Literally.

The falling sunrays are even more intense on this side (or maybe it is just that I’m watching them not covered by a giant wall), it’s like they were struggling not to go down without glittering everything before the night falls. They illume the landscape like they were indeed brushing a layer of golden, shiny paint over the earth, the coast, the waters, making the waves sparkle like a sea of tiny diamonds under the red sky. Diamonds, rubies, gold. I thought I could only see something like this in The Machinist’s newly invented _“kaleidoscopes”_.

I can’t look away. 

“It’s beautiful.” The words leave my lips almost without me noticing.

“I know,” Zuko agrees, still driving Druk around for getting more ampleness for the view. “It’s perfect.”

I turn to look at him over his shoulder. Over his scarred side’s shoulder. The lights are coloring the fleshy red around his eye kinda like magenta, accentuated by the irregular shades the folds of his abrade skin create. It encloses almost all of his profile, leaving only a thin slit of semi-yellow of the iris of his left eye, and a small pale square for his jaw and mouth, which is still curved upwards but in a more peaceful smile. Optimistic – and that’s not a word you use often to describe Zuko.

“Sure is,” I say, tightening my arms around him.


	12. Unlike me (Balance)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before his battle with Azula, Iroh gives a talk to Zuko about how and where - and with whom - to find his balance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loosely inspired by Zak and Cloe from Sendokai Champions.

**Zuko**

“Uncle… I don’t think I’m getting the point of this conversation.”

He sighs, but not frustrated. Or maybe just slightly so because I’m making him run out of proverbs and metaphors. (On my defense, I wouldn’t be doing so if he didn’t use such nonsense discourse!)

“Maybe we should take a different approach to this,” he says. He pulls out a weighing scale and puts it in between both of us. “Look at this weighing machine, for example. If I only put tea leaves in one plate,” he proceeds to put said tea leaves in place, “and then I put a sandwich on the other,” he puts the sandwich, “the plates are…”

“Uncle, why are we talking about your lunch the day of Sozin’s Comet?!”

He face-palms himself.

“Geez, Sparky, chill down,” Toph calls out to me from her place in the middle of a circle of earth, deflecting King Bumi’s attacks at her while they both practice earthbending. “At least let the man to finish talking.”

“And how can I ‘chill down’ when we are in the day of Sozin’s Comet?!,” I question. _Why_ aren’t we putting enough attention to that?!

“Hey, if I’m gonna die, it won’t be for stress.” She spits then. Nonchalantly and triumphantly. A smirk forms on her face.

“Why can’t I practice my bending like _them_?,” I ask Uncle, gesturing to all the others doing something clearly useful for the battle. Toph is practicing earthbending with King Bumi, Katara is practicing waterbending with Master Pakku… even Sokka and Suki are practicing together with Master Piandao!

“Zuko,” he says somewhat reprimanding. Stern. “I know that you have changed, but I need you to let go of more of your past self for this. For a moment, I need you to let go of your ambition. It is not ambition or bluntness what you’ll need to face Azula, but calmness and peace of mind. Your inner fire must be an illuminating torch, instead of consuming inferno.”

His stare remains severe and unwavering. Even when he’s talking about calmness, I can feel the intense, crushing power coming from his gaze alone, that is almost terrifying in how unfeeling and serene it is.

“I understand,” I say with a nod.

“Alright,” he breaths out, and setting the weighing scale aside he adds: “Maybe we should let this aside and go for a more direct one. I was talking to you about balance, which is what you’ll need the most for defeating Azula. It is our inner balance the one that brings us that peace of mind that I mentioned to you, but is also peace of heart and soul, the trust that all of our weak points are compensated by our strong points and our virtues outstand the most because of our flaws.”

“But how do I get my balance then?”

“That’s not something that I can tell you, Prince Zuko,” he clarifies, but not unkindly, “it’s something that you have to find by yourself. In my life, I’ve earned my balance from many different sources. Some of them that could surprise you.”

“Tea?” (I’m just guessing here.)

Uncle chuckles. “A part, but not all of it, not even its majority,” he says. “I used to earn my balance from my family. From my father and my brother.”

Without noticing, I feel myself backing off a little in surprise.

“Then I earned it from my wife,” he continues, and I hold my breath. (Uncle never talks about Aunt Meili.)

“I know I don’t mention her a lot,” he admits as though reading my thoughts, “and I know maybe it will disappointing to you, but I’m not strong as you are, Prince Zuko. I can’t remember the people that I have loved and lost without breaking down. I can keep fighting for them, but I their losses… they just hit me differently.”

“Uncle, you don’t have to…”

“Don’t worry about me,” he shakes his head fondly, “I haven’t lost all of the people that I love, that’s how I have kept my balance. But after your Aunt’s loss, I earned my balance from my son. And then from you, Prince Zuko.”

“You earned your balance from other people?”

“Yes… and no. I earned my balance from them by keeping them close to me and taking care of them. By talking and listening to them. I earned my strength for my desire to protect them, I obtained my balance from loving, and from being loved in return. The act of love is very inspiring, but it is only harmonious when you love the right people, and you feel yourself loved by them.”

I stare at my uncle. My real father. As strong and frail as he seems at the same time. 

“I understand,” I whisper.

“I think that you do,” he says energetically before standing up and leaving me alone with my meditating. “Maybe I should make a proverb out of this.”

I lean back steadying myself on my hands on the floor. _Our weak points are compensated by our strong points and our virtues outstand the most because of our flaws_.

I turn over my shoulder to look at Katara still practicing her waterbending. Her movements are far more intricate than the ones she knew the first time we met, she’s _almost_ easily defeating Master Pakku in his own game.

I could never beat my uncle like that at firebending.

Katara is almost everything that I’m not; I’ve noticed: she’s serene and calculating where I’m straightforward, cold where I’m hot-headed, both in battle and in other things. It’s very confusing sometimes. Sometimes being with her is annoying, and pleasant, and frustrating, and calming, and fun, and even _more_ annoying.

All at once it feels like we are in-tune with each other, that we are heading in the same direction, even if we are arguing on all our way there.

I watch her create a set of three different water currents, one for going for Master Pakku’s front and the others attacking at his sides. Pakku falls for the front one but blocks the currents at his sides, but Katara then makes a water vortex with the splashed water for caging him in.

“Excellent, Katara!,” he says once she frees him with a kind smile, “You have become a real master since our time together.”

Katara blushes. It looks closer to her usual caring self, so _unlike_ me as well.

I mean, it’s not that I’m uncaring, I just… Ugh! Never mind.

But this only proves how different we are from each other. But this is one of the times when it feels like something good. Like something I _like_ , in some way I can’t completely decipher.

Katara is caring, and I like that about her because I can’t… I don’t know how to… Forget it. I also like that she’s generous, and compassionate, and… (Why does it seems like I only like things about her that I don’t have for myself?)

Katara catches sight of me from her place near the lake where she’s training. I hold her stare as she holds mine.

_Loving, and from being loved in return._

_The act of love is very inspiring, but it is only harmonious when you love the right people, and you feel yourself loved by them._


	13. Legend (Folktale)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After they defeat the factory polluting the Jang Hui river, the GAang hears about a popular folk legend from the region. A direct sequel to "Chapter One: Secret Heroes".

**Zuko**

I take off my mask, ruffling my hair in the process. Katara brushes it with her fingers at my nape.

“Thanks again for helping us with those factory-dummies, friends,” Dock… Xu?... Ugh! I don’t even know who he is anymore! But the point is he thanks us again after watching the soldiers from the factory run away like scared kitten lynxes. Cowards.

“No problem.” Katara lets go off my hair and smiles at him. “It was an honor to help you.”

“You proved yourself quite honorable, little lady. Not many waterbenders’d help a Fire Nation village.”

“Waterbenders are not what the government has made you believe, Xu,” I say.

“I’m Bushi.”

I groan and smack my own forehead. “Whatever.”

“You know, it’s funny that you two decided to dress yourselves as the Painted Lady and the Isamu Spirit.” He eyes both of our costumes curiously.

“The what now?,” I say.

“The Isamu Spirit, the one that your mask is inspired.”

_My mask?_

“Right,” I hold the mask on both of my hands, “the Blue Spirit has many interpretations on different parts of the Fire Nation.”

“It does?,” Katara inquires.

“Yes. It is in Capital City that it is impersonated as the antagonist in Love Amongst Dragons, but smaller regions have it as a warrior spirit. A protector.”

“That’s right,” Bushi agrees. “He’s part of our town’s lore, too. He’s the Painted Lady’s lover.”

_… No._

_No!_

“There’s a folk legend about how those two,” he continues – even when I’m explicitly screaming him not to inside my head – “They say that when the spirits first crossed to our earth, it was because a terrifying evil threatened the Spirit World and corrupted the spirits in it. Many spirits fled to safety, but the evil chased them. There was this kind but brave spirit, the Painted Lady, who opposed the evil and protected its victims. But as strong as the Painted Lady was, she couldn’t defeat the evil alone. One day, as one of their battles ensued, the Painted Lady was almost overpowered, until a mysterious being came to her rescue. The Isamu Spirit. He saved the Painted Lady, and the evil retreated. The Painted Lady, as a thankful gesture, asked him to join her resistance to regain the Spirit War. But the Isamu Spirit, who was a lonely creature, rejected the offer. The Painted Lady continued to fight the evil to recover the Spirit World, but her and her allies couldn’t beat it by themselves. But the Isamu Spirit overcame his loneliness to save the Painted Lady once again. After the Spirit War was over and the spirits could return to the Spirit World, the Painted Lady was saddened due to that she had encountered beauty on Earth and humans and, seeing how frail humans were, she desired to protect them like she had done with the spirits in need. The Isamu Spirit, as his thankful gesture for the Painted Lady to inspire him to overcome his loneliness, carved with his swords the dry, profound valleys on the earth for the Painted Lady – who was a water spirit by nature – to fill them up with water so those profound valleys were her domain and she could inhabit them to watch over the lands and the humans.”

“That’s a beautiful story!” Aang is teary-eyed next to us.

“But why were the Painted Lady and the Isamu Spirit portrayed as lovers?,” Katara asks.

I wish she didn’t. Can’t she see that that would be to our _further_ embarrassment?!

Wait, is she doing that on purpose? ( _Why would she do that?_ ) I don’t know, maybe she… ( _Maybe nothing, you’re just being idiotic._ ) But maybe she… I mean, after all the factory thing she has been… ( _You don’t know anything about girls, don’t talk about how a girl “has been”.)_ I know about girls! ( _Really? Like when it took you around a week to tell that a girl wanted to ask you out?_ )

I face-palm myself again. Great, now I’m arguing with myself.

“The Painted Lady was happy with her new domains,” Bushi continues explicatively, “but the Isamu Spirit was sad that the Painted Lady – of whom he had become enamored – would remain here instead of the Spirit World. So they conjured for this river to be a window to the Spirit World, for the clear waters to be like a glass for the Painted Lady could see her home world and the Isamu Spirit, and the Isamu Spirit could see his ally and love. Their magic was sealed by a kiss through the glass of the river-mirror.”

I smack my forehead again. (A little to hide my heated face.)

“ _Awwww!,_ ” Toph coos, “That sounds sweet. Do you mind re-acting that scene, guys?”


	14. Teachings (Dao Swords)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko gives Katara a lesson with his Dao swords.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loosely inspired by the lyrics of the song Lumbra by Cali y el Dandee ft. Shaggy:
> 
> "Girl you got me on fuego" 🔥🔥
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! 💖💘💓

**Katara**

I wonder how sword-fighting feels like. I mean, how does it feels like when you’re the one holding the swords.

Sokka seems to love it. But every time I ask him to teach me how to swordfight he says I don’t have the arms for it. (What does _he_ know?! His arms are like noodles!)

I would grab his sword myself while he isn’t looking – just to take a look at it – but he even sleeps hugging it! Lucky me I know about some _other_ person that only sleeps with his swords hanging on the wall…

***

I sneak into Zuko’s room well past midnight. I leave the door open to not make unnecessary noise by closing it. Zuko is sound asleep on his bed, with Momo nestled over his stomach since he invited himself up to sleep in Zuko’s room tonight.

Zuko breathes heavily as he sleeps.

I tip-toe to the wall at the front of the room, the one right in front Zuko’s bed where he hangs his swords; the moonlight coming from the bedroom’s window gives me just enough light to see properly but to not create much shadows that could give me away. Delicately carefully, I pull his Dao swords off from the hooks, and even more delicately carefully I tip-toe out of the room again, closing the door after me to not leave suspicions.

***

I go out to the house’s courtyard to not wake anyone up inside. The swords make some metallic _Swizz!_ sound when I get them out of the cases. I’ll return them later! Nobody will know that I borrowed them! It’s just to try something! Now, how is it that Zuko does?

It is something like this...

_Swizz!_

And something like this.

_Swizz!_

And…

“Don’t you know that it is dangerous to play with sharp objects?”

I shriek and let go of the swords. They crash against the floor with discordant _Clang!_ -s between each other.

**Zuko**

I grab one of the swords from the floor. “Why did you take my swords?”

“Nothing!,” Katara says, crossing her arms over her chest defensively, “I just wanted to… I was just… Nothing!”

“Right. And that’s a pretty good explanation to take someone’s set of Dao swords in the middle of the night.”

“I just wanted to see them,” she says.

“During the night?”

“Your point being…?”

I execute a cutting shift. Katara’s awed eyes follow the motion intently. “Well, you should practice a bit more before dedicating yourself to swordsmanship.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your stance was awful.” I perform another cutting shift, this one on a transversal cue.

“It wasn’t!”

“It was.”

“It wasn’t!”

“Look, grab this,” I say, suppressing a sigh.

Katara half squeals before running to grab the sword from my hands.

“Relax your hand.” I place myself behind her back, wrapping my fingers over hers to mold them to the proper grip. (The night air makes her skin colder against my naturally warm one.)

“Keep your arms firm.” I align my arm over hers, and guide her to effect a direct slicing move. (Her arms are really skinny but fairly defined.)

“And keep your shoulders back.” With my other hand, I lower the shoulder of her free arm and pull it back a little.

“When do I get to hold the two swords?,” she asks.

“Later,” I say. “Now, follow my lead.”

Holding her on her posture, I continue to guide her arm to execute different moves. She follows attentively and a little too enthusiastically, so much that I have to keep remind her to keep her position well-founded and tighten my grasp on her hand from time to time. Our height difference allows me have a proper hold of her and watch each of her movements, I almost can look over her head. She feels even smaller than usual when we are this close.

“This is fun,” she observes. “Now I can see why you and Sokka are so crazy about it.”

“Don’t talk so fast, I’m just teaching you the basics, it’s far more complicated than just this.”

“When did you start learning swordsmanship?”

“Since I was a kid. When I was younger, I was really bad a firebending, so my parents got me with swordsman masters to make me useful for something.” I lead her to perform a straight stockade.

“Well, you got better.” She turns over shoulder to look at my face. “Both with the swords _and_ firebending.”

Under the darkness of the night and the moonlight, her eyes look sapphire, cobalt and baby blue all at once, with a faint, iridescent glint of silver reflecting the moon in the sky. I wouldn’t be able to notice it if we weren’t this close. I can discern each of her dark, thick eyelashes even in the dimness.

“Thanks,” I say. “I appreciate that.”

I continue to teach her some more techniques. Katara improves surprisingly quickly, she relaxes her own arms but commands them to maintain themselves steady and her back upright. Her concentration is also on the task, she doesn’t even flinches when a breeze of wind blows her hair to cover her eyes.

I brush it away gently with my fingers.

“Okay, I think that’s enough practice for tonight.” I pull down her arm and the sword.

“Thanks for the lesson, Zuko!”

“No need to thank me.”

“ _Yes_ need to thank you. Sokka never wants to teach me about these things,” she pouts.

“Maybe if you didn’t steal people’s stuff at night…”

“Hey! That’s not something that I do often.” A pause. “Seriously, not _often_.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”

“But thank you anyways. Oh, and… Zuko?”

“Yes?”

“You are breathing… on my neck.”

I let go of her and practically jump away.

(Why had I been holding on to her so much time after I finished teaching her the moves?!) – ( _Sword_ moves!) “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I…”

“It’s cool,” she laughs and picks up the second sword that we never used. “You want me to take this to your room for you? It’s the least I can do after I took them out without permission.”

“No, it’s okay,” I take the swords from her hands. “I’ll take them myself.”

Somehow it feels like having Katara anywhere near my room as of now would be… _unadvisable._


	15. Feeling me (Scars)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko has more than one scar, and Katara finds out about them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loosely inspired by Tobias and Tris from Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. My first take on Demisexual Zuko. 
> 
> P.S: I would have gladly make it a bit longer but I was afraid that the path the chapter seemed to have taken was TOO intense 😅.

**Zuko**

I run my finger over the transversal mark over my chest, feeling the rucked skin. Back in its day, many people told me the wound would heal and I would be left with only a faint pale spot. Since then I have decided that I hate lies. The skin patched itself, but fitfully, and forming a furrowed, unpleasant line running down across my pec. That’s why I hate taking off my shirt. That and the other scars and contusions that I got from other arguments with my father.

 _My chest is not as bad as my back_ , I think as I stare at myself in the mirror. (I forgot there was a mirror in my Ember Island room, I would gladly change rooms with Sokka to not have to look at this.) Of course the bruises on my back have healed over time, but there are still bumps and discolorations to prove the damage made in there. Slowly – without me realizing it, really – my hand travels to touch my spine. And the contact of my own fingertips triggers the memory of the pole my father used to hit me with against my back.

I withdraw my hand. Fast.

And then I crash it against the mirror. The sound of crystal breaking eclipses the sound of wood against skin repeating itself inside my head.

“Zuko!”

I’m not even sure what happens first – if I turn and see the door opening or I hear the door opens before I turn – but the first thing I register is Katara standing in the doorframe, wide-eyed and seemingly frozen in place, her hand doesn’t even lets go of the doorknob.

“Katara!” I grab my shirt from my bed and start to put it on. Or attempting to. (Why isn’t this thing designed so I can put it on faster and without tangling myself on it?) “Don’t you know how to _knock_ before entering?!,” I shout.

“I heard something breaking! I was _worried_ about you!,” she says and her brows furrow slightly, but not nearly as deeply as she would be frowning if her shocked pupils didn’t compulsorily go back to stare at my still exposed chest. At my scars. At my _deformations_.

“It was nothing. It was an accident. I was – ” I hiss when the fabric brushes against my wrecked open knuckles.

“Let me see that.” Katara runs to me. Or more like launches herself to run to me from the door, then retreats, then comes forward at a slower pace looking at the cutting pieces of shattered glass sprayed over the floor.

She takes my hand to get a better look at it in the room’s shadowiness, pulling me closer to the window through which the moonlight gets into the room, and away from the hurtful glass. I don’t fight her.

“What happened to you?”

“Nothing,” I grit the word out.

Now she _does_ frowns at me. But then continues study my cuts carefully. Her thumbs move like they were intent to touch them but she changes her mind midway.

“Stay here.” She lets go of my hand just enough to walk to the window and, somehow, to make a mere movement of her hand that magically appears an amount of water from the thin night air.

“How did you…?,” I ask once she returns, floating the water above her hand.

“I don’t have my water vial,” she explains sternly, taking my wounded hand again, putting the water over the cuts. The blood tints it a dark shade of red. “But the air has water, too, and the night air is even damper than the day air.”

The water starts to glow silvery blue under the force of her healing powers, illuminating her _certainly_ stern face.

“You could have just go look for your vial,” I say.

Her blue eyes raise to clash against mine; her brows are not furrowed anymore, just set into an inflexible line that makes her gaze even _more_ stern. I cringe. “I had an odd suspicion that you would try to escape,” she retorts, impersonally. “Silly me.”

I cringe harder, and shut up; Katara is looking at me like she could kill me with willpower alone, like she could crush me under the unyielding weight of her stare that already feels like an anvil above me… Though, that contradicts the work she’s doing to heal me.

“Okay. I think that’s it.” The water starts to glow down, and she removes it from to reveal my now healthy, clean hand.

I flex my fingers into a fist and let it go.

Without moving from her spot, Katara makes the water to go out through the window again. Completely letting go of it when she puts her hands on her hips. “Now, do you mind _explaining_ me what was going on in here?”

“I already told you it was nothing.” I don’t look at her.

“Don’t lie to me!,” she yells. Then pauses. Then adds, surprisingly more calmly: “What are those scars on your chest?”

I cross my arms over my chest – my _still_ exposed shirt because my shirt is _still_ open. (Why didn’t it occur to me to tie it up when Katara was grabbing the water?) “What scars?”

“Zuko.”

“Look, there are just old scars, okay? It’s nothing to worry about.”

“Sure, but… why are they so many?”

I shrug.

“Don’t shrug that off. Let me see.”

She steps closer to me and put her hands on my shoulders.

I tense.

Breathe.

Relax.

 _This is Katara_ , I remind myself. _This is Katara_. _This is Katara_.

Her hands slide through my muscles losing their tension, and under the sleeve of my shirt, pulling it off from me. I don’t fight her as she does.

“What happened to you?,” she demands, staring at my damaged torso… “deformed” would be a better word for it.

Her voice is surprisingly serene as she speaks, so are her eyes, their blue color feels almost cold in how tranquil they are. Like actual water on a lake, surrounding me. Embracing me. I’m floating on it.

I don’t know how I start talk: “My father.”

I look away.

“I see,” she mutters understandingly, but I don’t think she knows the extent of it all. I don’t know if I want to reveal it to her.

“He did this to you?” Her mere fingertip brushes against one of the cuts on my stomach.

I hold my breath.

“He used to… hit me. Hard. Until my skin opened.”

I can _feel_ her disgust. “That’s _horrible_!”

“It’s not as bad as when he challenged me to swordfights,” I argue. “I got better than him at that over time, but until then I was child… and I couldn’t properly defend myself.”

Katara feels like she, herself, is enclosing a red lightning now, shooting sparks in all ways and ready to aim at the object of her ire. “That’s… _despicable_.”

“That’s a mild word,” I say with a smirk.

“Don’t joke about that,” she says. And then softer: “I’m sorry, Zuko.”

“Me, too.” My hand flies to my scarred eye.

Katara pulls my hand down gently, then places her fingers over my cheekbone. “You know that there’s nothing wrong with you, right, Zuko?”

I don’t answer.

“ _I_ don’t see anything wrong with you.”

Her hand goes down through my cheek, my jaw, my chin. Her palm is soft. It glides down curving through my neck… finding my chest scar and tracing the skin. My eyes close, my chest expands with a deep breathe.

Katara’s fingers roam and draw the lines of each of my cuts and bruises. At times, the contact becomes too much, and I breathe deeply again. She stops.

Then resumes and lowers her hand some more through my torso. Snaking through my ribs. Down my stomach.

I can hear her regular breathing, I can feel her closeness, I _know_ she’s standing close to me, accompanying me. Feeling me.

“You’re cold.”


	16. Midnight conversations (Intimacy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Katara sleep in each other's arms. That's it. That's the plot. (A direct sequel to Chapter 4: Fire, Water and Blood.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second take on demisexual Zuko.
> 
> Like Aaron Warner would say: "Ignite me, baby. Ignite."

**Zuko**

Sokka, Toph, Aang and I raised a tent for Katara to sleep for the night. It was a poor attempt to comfort her after what happened with Hama; we all agreed she needed privacy.

Katara hasn’t speak ever since the villagers took Hama away. She cried for a while but then she just… stopped, her gaze turned broken and lost. It seemed like the only function she had left was breathing as she sat frozenly quiet on a rock, not even looking at us while we worked on the tent.

We presented it to her in a silent exchange. She approached, rigidly and ghostly, and got inside.

Sokka, Toph and Aang then put their sleeping mattresses and their blankets respectfully away from Katara’s sleeping place, and proceeded to go to sleep. I remained on my spot in front of the tent, feeling like… like…

My lips part slightly, but no words come out. I feel like there’s something I should do, something I should say, but I’m just _blank_. And even though I’m standing here uselessly, I can’t move away… I can’t leave Katara alone.

So I just sit on the grass in front of the tent’s entrance. (For some reason, I feel it would be more respectful if I sat with my back to the tent.) I don’t do much after that, I just sit there, waiting. For what exactly, I don’t know. I guess I’m just waiting for it to be morning and Katara to get out of her tent. And maybe I’ll do this tomorrow’s night too, if she still doesn’t feel better. And then the night after that. And…

“What are you doing?”

I yelp, and back off to look at Katara holding the entrance of her tent open with an inscrutable expression on her face.

“Nothing,” I say, quickly in the sense of nervously. “Nothing at all.”

Katara’s unreadable eyes turn curious long enough to eye me on the floor.

Her head bows. Then raises again, but her eyes are no longer curious or impenetrable, they are more like… cold. But peaceful.

“Can you come inside?,” she asks in a whisper. It is almost drowned by the breeze of night air. “I don’t really want to be alone tonight.”

I blink. “Sure.”

She gets back inside without waiting for me to come in.

I follow slowly, opening the entrance just enough for the moonbeams to illuminate her tent. Katara is lying on her side on her sleeping mat, with her loose hair splayed around her head; she looks… scared.

I step inside and lay next to her on the narrow mat.

She turns around and squirms closer to me, throwing her arm around my waist, hugging me tightly, and placing her head on my chest above my heart, hearing it beat.

The first thought that comes to my mind is: _Hama tried to make my heart to stop beating_.

We lay like that for a while. Wide awake. I can tell Katara’s awake too because of how fast her breathing is coming, for the firmness she’s putting on the embrace around my waist.

I hear her murmuring on the pitch blackness of the tent, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For not listening to you about Hama,” she explains, her voice somewhat monotone but sentient, “I was an idiot.”

“You weren’t,” I say, “If there’s an idiot around, that’s me. I was suspecting of Hama but I still let you alone with her.” I pause. “I didn’t protect you.”

“ _I’m_ the one that didn’t protect you,” she nuzzles at my chest.

“You did,” I remind her, “You saved me. You saved all of us.”

“I didn’t. I turned into Hama.”

I can’t take this. “You didn’t.”

“I did. I am a bloodbender now.”

“You aren’t.”

“What?”

“I mean… you are, but… If you could master it so quickly, it means that it was always inside you from the very beginning, you just decided not to use it. That’s who you are. You’re not a bloodbender.”

She’s quiet for exactly four heartbeats. “I don’t think that’s the way it works.”

“I do. I believe that… you could never be anyone but the person that you are now,” I think about Katara smiling and training and practicing her bending, always so hard-working and so helpful, “That’s one of the things I like about you.”

“One of them?” She raises her head and supports her chin on my chest to look at my face. “You mean there are more?”

“I – um – ”

“Tell me about them,” she says. It’s something like both a demand and a plea.

“I like…,” I trail off looking her in the eye, “that you are honest. And caring.”

I continue to think of Katara smiling. Katara’s eyes when she looks at us – at _me_ – so concernedly, and trustingly. Katara smirking at me when she’s teasing me.

“I like… that you’re kind and thoughtful. And that you are… trustworthy… and driven.”

I think of Katara practicing her bending some more. Katara’s fierce and determinate look on her eyes.

“I like… that you’re brave.” _And strong, and intelligent, and ingenious, and authentic._

I look up to the dark ceiling of the tent. “I like… that you’re compassionate… and protective… and attentive… and understanding…”

I feel my body tensing and heating. My back arches a little. “I like that you are independent.”

_Katara’s smile. Katara’s laugh. Katara’s eyes. Katara’s hair. Katara’s hands. Katara’s voice._

I feel hot. Burning from the inside out. Like with fever. Like with my fire breathe. Like with lightning redirection. (I wonder if Katara can feel my now sky-rocketed pulse hammering and ringing against my ribcage.) I struggle to keep my voice even. “I like…” – _the way you look at me, the sound of my name in your voice, your tact_ – “that you are you.”

My heavy breathes echoes around us inside the dark tent.

Katara is quiet as I try to lower my pulse.

“Those are a lot of things that you like about me,” she whispers, unbelievably calmly compared to how agitated I feel. Like I can’t even move, and at the same time like I have enough energy to bend a forest fire.

“I like plenty of things about you, too,” she continues, her hand reaches and lands at my scarred cheekbone. “I like that you’re real, in the imperfect way.” Her fingers move and trace the folds in my abraded skin delicately. “And I like that you’re honest, too, and that you’re kind even when you don’t realize it yourself. And that you’re smart, and sensitive, and brave, and strong, and considerate.” Her fingers glide through my cheek and stroke my jaw. “And I like that you’re noble, and honorable. And I like how determined you are, how strongminded you are.”

We stay in silence a while more – I’m not sure how much exactly – Katara’s hand slides down my neck, caressing my skin until settling again on my chest.

“We should probably go to sleep,” she says.

 _Sleep. Right._ “Yeah,” I breathe out, “we should.”


	17. Before the Battle (Eclipse)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara comforts Zuko before The Invasion. (A prequel to Chapter 9: Nice to meet you, old enemy.)

**Katara**

We all stare at Aang as he flies away to… fight the Fire Lord.

_This is the day Black Sun. The day when the war ends._

I’d be lying if I said that a part of me doesn’t wants to stop Aang. Or at least for me to go with him. But a greater part of me is immensely proud of him, and looking forward to the end of this war when we can all celebrate in peace.

“Everyone listen up!” We turn to my father speaking from the submarines gates. “The next time we resurface, it’ll be on the beaches. So stay alert, and fight smart. Now break time is over, back in the subs!”

Sokka, Toph and I, along with Momo, step to run off into the subs, but I stay back when I catch a glimpse of dark hair waving in the win. I turn to Zuko standing at one edge of the ship, staring into space.

“Hey,” I say as I approach him, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” he says, a little too quickly, like he knew I was coming. “Just thinking.”

I bite my lip. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he says, still staring absently into… the distance. The distance that separates us from his home country. “Totally.”

“Are you sure?”

He glances at me through the corner of his eye. His irises somehow look less bright than usual. “Yes. I mean… no. I don’t know.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know how exactly do you talk about this,” he says. “I’m returning home, where everybody thinks I’m a traitor. I’m forcibly entering a place to where I used to belong. Or at least, where I thought I belonged. Where I abandoned my real family. And the people I used to know are up to capture me: my father, my sister, my ex-girlfriend…”

“Your what?”

“Nothing.”

I take a step closer to his side, and hold his hand in mine. “Zuko, you’re returning to your home because you haven’t abandoned it, nor its people. You’re trying to save them even when they don’t realize it. That’s an act of selflessness that not many people would be willing to do, and that they certainly wouldn’t be so determinate to achieve.” I place my hand on his jaw and turn his face softly for him to look at me. “Feel proud of yourself, you have earned it.”

I observe the corner of his lips curving upwards in a gesture that can barely be called a smile, but feels warmer than one.

“Thank you, Katara.”

“No need to thank me.”

We remain in our spot a while longer, our hands still entwined. Zuko’s palm is hot.

“Everything’s gonna be different after today, isn’t it?,” he says. Suddenly I realize that we are closer than what I thought.

“Yes, it is.” We are close enough for us to breath each other’s breathe.

Zuko feels warm even in the chilly sea breeze, he’s always warm – _so_ warm – like his heart was on flames and heating him from the inside out. Zuko always feels like fire. Illuminating.

Bright.

Hot.

Palpitating.

 _Alive_.

I can feel his pulse in his lips when we kiss. It’s strong and a little too accelerated, but also strained, like he’s making the inhuman effort to restraint himself right now. I somewhat wish that he didn’t. I just…

Forget it, I don’t want to think right now; I want to save this moment for whatever happens after we enter the Fire Nation.

Zuko’s lips are soft… _Impossibly_ soft…

“Uh… Kids?”

Zuko jump back from each other and turn to look at… my dad.

Right. _Perfect_. 

**Zuko**

“Dad!” Katara’s voice is remarkably _too_ bright. “Hey! We… uh… thought that you were already inside the submarine.”

Hakoda’s – _Mr._ Hakoda’s face seems made of stone as he takes a brief look at her, but that’s nothing compared to how sharply frozen his eyes are when he raises them to meet mine. (I think Katara inherited her mother’s eyes; hers are somewhat more intensely blue.)

“I was,” he speaks slowly, “But since you didn’t come in, I came to look for you. It’s time to submerge.”

“Right, we are on it.” Katara walks past him and runs to get into the submarine.

“I’ll do the same.”

Talking increases the tingling on my lips for kissing Katara. I pass my tongue over them, and press them tightly together. I only get to _one_ step forward when Mr. Hakoda calls out:

“Hey,” he points two of his fingers to his eyes, and then to me, “I am watching you.”


	18. Revenge (Caught Undressed)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a revenge for spoiling the fun of her scams, Toph steals Katara's clothes while she bathes.

**Toph**

On my defense… Katara started it.

**Katara**

What is it that has gotten into Toph lately? She’s completely out of control! We should make an intervention for her! Well, we _could_ , if I wasn’t the only that apparently has enough common sense left to tell that we shouldn’t be “swindling swindlers”!

_Where did I leave my clothes again?_

Seriously, maybe _I_ should organize an intervention for the whole group to get them to see the problem in all of these. “Swindling” is wrong! And we have to keep a low profile to begin with! How am _I_ the only one that remembers that?

_No, seriously, where did I leave my clothes?_

I _swear_ I left on the rock next to the lake as I bathed… Maybe they just fell off? I look to both of my sides, and when I’m fairly sure there’s nobody around here, I get out of the water, trembling at the sudden cool wind brushing my wet skin. _Prrrr!_

Embracing myself – trying to cover myself – I rush to the rocks next to the lake.

Well, no, apparently my clothes didn’t fell off either, but… then, where _are_ they?

**Zuko**

“Has anybody seen Katara?”

Sokka and Aang exchange a look between each other and with… _“Hawky”_ (seriously, if we are gonna have a hawk, at least let’s put it a good name!) before shaking their heads.

“What about you, Toph?”

“ _What about me_ what, Sparky?,” she smirks reclining against a rock on the floor. Surprisingly relaxed compared to how angry she was after her fight with Katara earlier.

“Have you seen Katara?”

“What is it with everybody suddenly wanting me to _‘see’_ things? I’m _blind_ , people!” She waves her hands in front of her eyes for major emphasis.

“Do you _know_ where she is?,” I say, growing annoyed at her attitude. (This must be what Katara means.)

“Didn’t she go take a bath?”

She snickers immediately after the words leave her mouth. It’s gives kind of a bad feeling.

“She should have come back by now.”

“Some girls just like to take long baths, Zuko. You, more than anyone, should _know_ this things about _Katara_.”

Fighting the blush climbing to my cheeks, I stumble upon the words: “I… I… I’m gonna go look for her!”

“ _Oh_ …” Toph’s mouth manages to both circle, and smirk at the same time. “Have fun with that.”

**Katara**

_This can’t be happening to me. This can’t be happening to me. This can’t be happening to me!_

Oh, gosh! What am I supposed to do now? The sun is already comig down and I can’t get back to the camp like _this_! Oh, why me? Why _now_? I would make myself some watersuit or something if it wasn’t because water is _transparent_! And I can’t make myself an _ice_ suit!

Why is this happening to me?! Can’t I get a break after everything that has been going on?!

“Katara?”

Apparently not.

“Zuko, don’t look!”

**Zuko**

Okay, I’m not sure what happened in here, but I’m sure as hell it is awkward _now_!

“What are you _doing_ here?!,” Katara asks from behind me now that I turned to… um… give her privacy?

“I came looking for you… I was worried…”

“Well, thanks, but I would have appreciated it more if you had brought some clothes with you!”

“Where are your clothes?”

_Awkward as hell conversation. Especially when it brings back the brief glance that I caught of Katara…_

I slap myself. _Don’t think about that!_

“I don’t know,” Katara says, “they suddenly… _disappeared_.”

“They couldn’t have vanished in the air.”

“Oh, my, what if they blew away with the wind?!”

“Don’t panic,” I say. We already have enough hormones going around with the flashbacks I’m getting to Katara’s exposed stomach… and curvy waist… and slender, long legs…

I slap myself again.

“Why are you slapping yourself?,” Katara inquires, her voice sounds pretty weirded out.

“You don’t want to know the answer to that,” I explain.

“Can you go back to the camp and bring me something to wear?,” she pleads.

“It’s almost dark, I won’t leave you here like… _this_.” I cringe a little. (It seems like each mention of the issue triggers the memory.)

“Then what do I do?,” she half-whines.

Well, she certainly can’t walk around… undressed (slap) and I don’t know how effective it would be that I just covered her while we walk back to the camp, but…

“Wait.” The word leaves my lips before I can fully process the thought.

“You got an idea?” I can hear the hopeful smile on Katara’s voice.

 _Yeah, a bad one._ “What about… What about if you were my shirt?”

I smack myself on the forehead. _Why did I say that?!_

“What?”

“I mean, I think it could cover you. I’m much taller than you so I think it would fit just fine.”

_Worst. Idea. Ever._

“Zuko, that’s brilliant!”

I wouldn’t go that far, but I appreciate the compliment. “Right. Just let me…”

I untie the belt of my shirt, and take it off by my shoulders. Great, now I’m undressing next to an _already_ undressed Katara. And why can’t I stop having this weird thoughts?!

“Here.” Still giving my back to her, I hold my shirt along with the belt behind my shoulder.

She yanks it out of my hand. “Thanks!”

I wait patiently for her to cover herself up. “Okay,” she announces, “Now you can turn.”

I obey – though moving slowly to give her more time in case she needs it. I was right about the size, the shirt fits Katara like a short dress that ends midway on her upper thigh. She had to tie the belt around her waist to keep the fabric from waving too much.

“Thanks for this, Zuko. You’re a live safer!”

“Right.” I speak in direction of Katara’s legs. Which are quite shapely and…

I slap myself again.

“Seriously, what’s that about?” She arches an eyebrow at me.

“Trust me, you _really_ don’t want to know.”

Katara takes a look down to examine herself. “You do are pretty broad-shouldered, aren’t you?”

“Yeah…”

Broad enough for the shirt to form an aperture exposing Katara’s clavicle and a glimpse of her bare breasts. I gulp.

“But I do need to find my clothes!,” her head spins around as if the clothes would magically appear out of nowhere like that, “I can’t go around wearing your shirt forever!”

 _Don’t say that out loud_ , I think.

“Wait a minute…,” I mutter. And then exclaim: “Toph!”

“What about Toph?”

“She must have stolen your clothes!”

“ _What?!_ ”

“When I asked her if she knew where you were, she laughed when she said you were taking a bath. And when I said I was coming to look for you, she laughed some more and said ‘have fun’. She knew that would be…” I stop myself before I can get to the word.

“ _That little brat!_ ”

Katara’s scream sounds more like an explosion than a human voice.

“Let’s go back to the camp, I wanna put her in her place!”

And, just like that, she begins marching to the camp like a fully armed and armored soldier seeking revenge instead of a barefoot girl wearing nothing but a worn out shirt.

***

It’s hard to keep up with Katara’s pace.

She roars – like, _really_ roars – Toph’s name when we finally get to the campsite.

The first one to catch glance of us is Appa – who snaps his head to take a second look at us.

“Don’t ask,” I tell him.

Aang and Sokka’s eyes are big when they see us approaching, Toph’s are settled in our way like she could see us vividly, a malicious smile forming on her face.

“Aang, cover your eyes!,” Katara screams.

“Katara, what…”

“ _Cover_. Your eyes,” I emphasize.

He does as he is told.

Sokka cuts in: “What the…?”

“You, too!,” Katara commands, “And go inside one of the tents!”

“Why – ”

“ _Go inside the tents!_ ”

Still with their eyes covered, Sokka and Aang stand up and run off to one of the tents, crashing against each other and several other things along the way. The three of us stay alone outside. Only me, Katara and Toph.

“Did you enjoy your bath, Katara?”

“You little …”

Katara raises her hand to convoke a giant wave from the river next to our cliff. It creates a giant shadow that makes the night even darker.

“Katara, wait!” I hold her arm. “You can’t fight without… um…”

“Clothes, Zuko. The word’s _clothes_ ,” Toph concludes for me. “And maybe that’s what it takes for Sugar Queen to loosen up a little bit.”

“You. Are. A…”

“Katara, calm down, she’s just a kid.”

“Yeah, Katara,” Toph smirks, “I’m just a kid. Isn’t that why you insist so much in being my uncalled mom?”

“ _Urgh!_ ” Katara lets go off her hold over the wave. “I can’t deal with this now! Where’s my clothes?!”

“On my tent,” Toph answers pointing to it. “Inside my pillow case.”

Katara stomps over to said tent. Aang and Sokka take the lack of commotion as a cue to get out of theirs.

“What in the ever living world is going in here?!”

“It’s a long story,” I sigh.

“And _why_ is _my sister_ naked under your shirt?!” Sokka narrows his eyes at me.

 _Where’s Azula now? Why isn’t she trying to kill me?_ “Hey, the important thing here is that this is _so_ not what it looks like.”


	19. New Life (Avatara)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avatar Katara is preparing for her battle against Fire Lord Ozai.

**Katara**

“You have learned well, Avatar Katara.”

Avatar Aang’s words sound sincere. Everything about him is always so sincere. Like the sunlight coming through the glass windows, translucent and glimmering, the light comes from him from the inside out… (I wonder if some of his airbender metaphors were ingrained into my brain.)

“I wish you could be in the battle with me, Aang.”

“I am always with you.” He smiles, with the pureness I thought only newborns and white roses where able to achieve, extending his ghostly and incorporeal hand to me. I can see through his palm. He’s not really here. “We are one.”

I reach for his hand, and place my palm over what would be his. For a moment, it almost feels like the air is more weighty and dense against my skin. Still smiling, Avatar Aang vanishes under what would have been my touch, if I could indeed touch him.

_He’s not really here._

“Hey.”

I turn upon Zuko’s voice, he’s standing in the doorframe that gets out to the balcony that I chose to meditate here on Ember Island’s house.

“Hey to you.” I smile.

“You talked with the past Avatars?”

My gaze falls. “Yeah.”

I stand up and walk up to the border of the terrace, looking at the night, the moon, and the ocean expanding in front of me. It almost looks like something taken from a painting, but paintings can’t always capture the liveliness moments like this possess.

“So you feel ready for the battle?”

Zuko approaches me, but standing on a far end of the veranda. A knot ties my stomach, but I understand him. It must be difficult to be near the person that will have to exterminate your father.

“No,” I admit, whispering into the dark sky. (It’s more like indigo blue. My favorite color. It feels like somewhat of a cruel irony.)

“Why not?” Zuko sounds concerned.

“How can I be ready for something like this? Avatar Aang fought all of his life to end this war, and I just now mastered all four elements, how can I stop something that he couldn’t in his entire lifetime?”

“Avatar Aang closed himself too much into the Air Temples and the Air Nomads,” he reminds me, “He told you. That he denied himself a wider view of the world and the people in it, that his desire to fight alone caused him to not count with many allies that could help him stop the war. You have friends and allies from all four nations, Katara. You’re not doing this alone.”

“Yes, but… maybe Aang was right about something. It is the _Avatar’s_ job to defeat the evil and bring balance. Maybe I do have to do this alone.”

“Katara, that’s not true!” Zuko gives a step closer to me. Probably out of impulse, but now that he’s more into the moonlight I can see his face anxious and worried. “Aang told that his biggest regret had been fighting alone.”

“And my biggest regret will be if something happens to you,” I say.

“Or Sokka. Or Toph. Or Suki. Sometimes I think I carry Aang’s emotions with me, for the people that he loved and that he lost in the Air Nomads. Sometimes I think I can feel Avatar Roku’s pain for Sozin’s betrayal. Whatever happens to me, it will be what happens to you what I will carry in my soul, till the end of the times.”

“Katara.”

Zuko takes my hand in both of his, almost forming a pleading gesture. I didn’t notice the moment when he got so close to me, but now we are face to face with each other; it’s striking how the golden color of his eyes doesn’t changes not even at night.

“Listen, I… I…” His mouth opens, then closes, then his eyes raise to the sky as if asking for help from the greater powers. “I… Look, I just want you to promise me that you won’t try to fight against my father alone.”

“Maybe it’ll be better if I do, Zuko, he’s your father after all, and…”

“I don’t care,” he says, hardly, like he’s setting the words into the air around us, for us to never forget them. “I mean, I do, but… I care about you more.” He squeezes my hand lightly, his skin is burning. “And about my uncle, and about Sokka and Toph and Suki. And about your father. And the Water Tribe. And the Earth Kingdom. And the Fire Nation. I care about the world you’re trying to save – that you _will_ save. And I want to help you save it.”

“Zuko…”

“Katara, I… During the last few months, I’ve only looked for redemption, in front of the eyes of all the people that I hurt, including you. I _want_ to be this person for you. One that you can trust, one that you can have faith in. I want to protect you. I know that you don’t need me to protect you, but I do… Because you are…”

“Zuko…,” I whisper, “you don’t have to say it.”

“I want to say it,” he says. “I don’t know how, but I want to.” He brings my hand to his lips, they are a brief and faint, but present tact over my knuckles.

I can’t take it anymore.

Whenever Zuko and I kiss, it’s hard to admit it, but it’s more or so to relief the tensions of our crazy, battlefield lives; now it feels more like we are talking without using words, like Zuko can tell me whatever he wants, and I can tell him that I understand.

He surrounds my waist with his arms to pull me closer to him, and I dig my fingers into his hair as we kiss; his lips are thin and almost _unbearably_ soft, I clench my fist in his hair – tightly – at the overwhelming sensation.

_Zuko…_

“I do need you.”


	20. Bedtime stories (Fairytale)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all started because Aang wanted a bedtime story...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loosely inspired by The Little Mermaid, The Thousand and One Nights, and Jace and Clary from Shadowhunter Chronicles: The Mortal Instruments.

**Zuko**

“Zuko?... Zuko, are you asleep?”

“Yes, Aang,” I say without opening my eyes. “I am.”

“Then how are you talk me?”

“I talk in my sleep.”

“And how do you know what I’m asking you?”

“I can _hear_ you even in my sleep.”

“That means you’re dreaming with me?” I can hear the smile on his voice.

 _That means I’m having a nightmare_ , I think.

Silence.

“I can’t sleep.”

“And I’m really broken about it.” _Not._

“Can you tell me a story?”

_This isn’t happening to me._

“Once upon a time there was an Avatar that didn’t stop talking so his firebending teacher kicked him out of the room.”

More silence.

“And they lived happily ever after?,” he asks.

“I know that I did.” I open my eyes, contemplating turning the story into a reality.

“What’s going on in here?”

Katara’s voice comes from the doorway. She is standing in there with her hair loose, slightly messy, and a little less wavy than usual – probably due to tossing and turning in her sleep.

“Zuko tells _awful_ stories,” Aang says with a frown. I glare at him.

Toph’s head shows sneak peeking to the inside the room from the other side of the doorframe. “Are you telling stories?”

“Apparently,” Katara says.

“Can you tell us a story, Katara?,” Aang asks eagerly and happily. “You always tell amazing stories.”

“Sure, Aang.”

“Yay!”

And just like that, the kid airbends himself to land snuggling on my bed, making me bounce up and down in the mattress. Toph then runs up and also climbs up to lay at my other side.

“A story, a story, a story, a story!” Sokka runs from the hallway dragging Suki and his blankets on both of his hands and then settling at the feet of the bed.

The whole thing it’s such a bizarre shock to my system that I can’t do nothing but blink underacting.

“Okay,” Katara grabs one of the chairs in the old desk that I got in my childhood room here in Ember Island and pulls it closer to all of us in the bed. “What kind of story do you want to hear?”

“One with a happy ending,” Aang says.

“But with action, too,” Toph cuts in.

“And a good hero,” Sokka asks.

“And with romance,” Suki concludes.

“Alright,” Katara says sitting. “I got the perfect story for you.”

***

“I think they fell asleep already.”

Katara’s eyes are soft and tender as she studies all of our friends snugging on _my_ bed – (of _all_ places).

“Yeah,” I say, “that I can see.” I try to move, carefully; to not wake up Aang and Toph now that they are sleeping with their heads on my shoulders.

“You don’t mind sleeping with all of them taking over your bed?,” Katara asks me.

“It’s okay,” I assure her, “either way, I ca never go back to sleep after I wake up.”

Katara hums thoughtfully for a moment. “Why don’t you come sleep in the divan that’s on my room? Maybe I can help you to fall back asleep.”

Admittedly, I don’t put much resistance to the offer of not sharing my bed with so many people. “Okay.”

Katara helps me get out of the labyrinth that are Aang, Toph, Sokka and Suki’s sleeping bodies, (which is considerably easier compared to the other times scenes like this have taken place and they were hugging me in their sleep), and then we walk over to Katara’s room. I lay down on the antique divan my parents considered too valuable to pile it up with the rest of the furniture in the attic.

The cushions shift when Katara sits at my side. “You want me to tell you another story to see if you can fall back asleep?”

“I don’t think that will work with me.”

“C’mon, I know plenty of stories! There’s this one that I learned at the North Pole and that I haven’t told the others yet.”

I shrug. “Fine. Be my guest.”

“Close your eyes so you’ll relax better.”

I comply.

“Long ago,” Katara whispers with a silky, honeyed voice, “shortly after the moon first showed up in the night sky and inflicted her power over the waves in the ocean, a new kind of spirits, created by her powers, were born in the same waves. These new spirits were formed by the water that the moon controlled, and therefore they served the moon devotedly.”

“The decades passed by and the humans started to inhabit the Earth, too, and the Water Spirits grew fearful of them because of how recklessly they sailed across the seas.”

I picture the blue waves, and the spirits swimming between them, as the human ships cut through the ocean.

“But there was this one day when one of the Water Spirits saw a young human man in one of their boats and fell deeply in love with him,” Katara continues, her voice becoming smoother as the story advances. “The young man was a great sailor and a recognized and beloved village chief. But not even his sailing skills or the devoutness of his villagers could save him when a great storm triggered a powerful water swirl that sank his entire ship, along with the crew and the chief himself.”

I picture the vast ocean tinted on dark blue under the black sky, but an even blacker mouth forming in the middle of the waters.

“The chief could not save himself, but the Water Spirit that loved him could. She dragged him to safety in the coast and watched over him as he recovered, but for protecting her kind, she hide herself back into the waves once the chief woke up. When he opened his eyes, the chief found himself next to a girl from the village instead, whom he mistakenly assumed had saved him, so he thanked her and became enamored of what he supposed was her bravery and strength.”

Katara’s voice is raw in emotions, somehow transmitting deceitful hopefulness the chief of the story felt for the village girl, and the disillusion the Water Spirit felt upon it. It makes me feel that I can feel it too.

“So charmed and mistaken he was, that the chief promised to marry the village girl, who turned out to be a dark, selfish soul that craved the chief’s power over their people.”

“Sounds like the chief couldn’t see things clearly.” I’m surprised at the words leaving my mouth without me noticing, and how sleepy and far away my voice sounds to my own ears.

“He couldn’t, at the moment.”

I both can and cannot feel Katara’s fingers softly brushing through my hair. I’m too far away into sleep to know if that’s real or unreal.

“The Water Spirit knew the true colors of the chief’s newfound fiancée,” Katara’s voice continues breaking through the pleasant but dark fog inside my mind. “So the day of the wedding, she defied the girl, showing the chief who had been the one with the power to save him in that predestined storm. The chief recognized his mistake and finally returned the Water Spirit’s feelings. At first fearful that the moon would punish her for revealing their kind, the Spirit surprised herself when the moon turned out touched by their love, filling herself with light and shining to the brightest, inaugurating the first full moon. But the Spirit and the chief couldn’t be together just yet, they belonged and were needed in different parts of the world that they all lived in, nonetheless they promised forever love, and that when the moon illuminated the night the way she had done, they would reunite at the sea, to see each other’s face light up even in the darkness, promising even more that they would be together one day. Years later… the villagers started the tradition… of honoring a chief… that ascended to the Spirit World… for love…”

I can’t hear the next part. I’m already asleep.


	21. Aurora Australis (Aurora Borealis)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Now it's my turn to show you something incredible." (Sequel to Chapter 11: Perfect.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loosely inspired by Finch and Violet from All the Bright places (book) and the song lyrics of "Por fin te Encontré" ("Finally found you", in english) by Cali y el Dandee ft. Juan Magan y Sebastian Yatra.
> 
> "Te haré canciones con amor sincero, seré tu sol en este amanecer."
> 
> "I'll write you songs with true love, I'll be your sun in this dawn."

**Zuko**

Being back at the Southern Water Tribe reminds me a little of when I used to sail around in circles searching for Aang… It makes cringe at how much of a crazy jerk I was. Maybe I should have listened more to my uncle back then. Maybe. Probably. Especially when he used to try make me appreciate the natural beauty of the South Pole, he used to drag me to see night sky almost every night but I stayed sulking in my dark room instead; I wish I had accompanied him sooner, he was right that the night sky is ethereally beautiful in here, it’s like both deep, dense and radiant, wavy indigo blue.

“What are you doing up, your Fireiness?”

Katara rubs her eyes as she comes out from her family’s tent (part of the bigger new ones that the South instituted as their new households and were I decided to stay instead of the Fire Nation’s Royal Campsite) wearing her blue coat over her shoulders. I still don’t understand how she can _possibly_ step in the snow barefooted, but she does; her hair waves aggressively with the wind and she combs it with her fingers.

“We are supposed to wake up early for the reunion of the Southern Reconstruction Project,” she reminds me.

“I know, I’m sorry, I was just… thinking.”

“Whoa, a déjà vu,” she says, still struggling to keep her hair tame in the middle of the wind. It’s a bit funny to see. “Ugh! Forget it!” Her hands fall heavily at her sides.

I laugh under my breath. “Sorry. Did I wake up you up?”

“No. Yes. I mean… I just supposed that you would be awake.”

“Am I _that_ much predictable?”

“No, I just know you _pretty_ well.”

“I take that as a compliment,” I say.

I return my gaze to the sky.

“Oh! No way! Zuko, wait here!”

Katara half jumps up and then back into the tent. And then emerges back outside surprisingly – astonishingly – quickly with her coat fully accommodated, her leather boots on, and tangling the ends of her hair in her long braid.

She takes my hand in her gloved one. “Come on, follow me!”

“Where are we going?” I don’t have much option than to follow when she yanks me forward.

“I know how to make this more of a déjà vu. Now it’s _my_ turn to show you something incredible!”

***

Katara continues to call me out from the top of the mountain she brought me to. “Come on, Zuko! Climb faster!”

“Easy, okay? I’m not used to climbing in snow,” I argue. (I wish I had brought Druk with me.) “Can you at least tell me why are we climbing up a mountain in the middle of the night?”

“It’s a surprise! Rush up and see!”

I groan. “This is taking forever!” I impulse myself up with fire missiles from my hands and land on my feet with my arms crossed next to Katara at the top of the mountain. “Alright, Katara, what did you brought me here for?”

“That.”

I follow her pointing finger up to the sky to see… well… a waving rainbow.

Only that more glowing.

And at _night_.

I gape as I see the different colored lights move in their place and around on the sky, all of them seem like enormous lanterns or roads of energy. It reminds me a little of the colors in Ran and Shaw’s fire, transmitting life and harmony, just that now I can feel the coldness around me but it does not feel unwelcome or displeasing, not with the glow illuminating the darkness.

“I’ve heard about this,” I say, my eyes still glued to the sky, “It’s called Aurora Borealis. Right?”

“That’s right,” Katara concedes. “But here at the South we know it as Aurora Australis. I only learned that it was called Borealis too when we first visited the North.”

“It’s beautiful,” I whisper.

Maybe even more beautiful than the Fire Nation’s sunset. The lights move like living souls and auras dancing with each other, allowing the energy to flow fluently and freely through them, the sky, and through us as we observe them.

They are not like fire. But they have live like it.

“I told you it was my turn to show you something incredible,” Katara says from my side, her gaze, too, lost into the Aurora.

The dissimilar colors reflect brighter and more intensely in her clear eyes, I can see vividly the reddish, greenish, bluish and all-colored glints appearing and disappearing, moving through her eyes, like they were shinning from within her and she was the source of all of that beauty. The Aurora creates different shades across her face, turning her into a real rainbow.

“It’s gorgeous,” I say, still staring at her instead of the Aurora.


	22. Lost (Blood Moon)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Katara fall under the effects of a strange lunar eclipse.

**Zuko**

“Guys, don’t you think there’s something strange going on around here?”

We all follow Sokka’s gaze around the town’s block.

Now that he mentions it, yeah, there’s something odd going on, starting with the people securing their windows with metal bars and barricades in the windows and the town’s guards performing too crowded vigilance rounds.

“Actually, yes,” I say.

“Excuse us, sir,” Sokka walks up to one of the men blocking a house’s entrance, “But what is the excessive security for?”

“Oh, it’s because for tonight’s Blood Moon,” the man responses amicably. “Just for precaution. We have plenty of firebenders around here, it’s a good thing most of the days, but not when there’s a lunar eclipse coming. I mean, you know how firebenders get under the Blood Moon.”

“There’s a Blood Moon coming tonight?,” I intercede, kind of baffled. (How did _I_ not know about this?)

“Yes, at midnight, but don’t worry it’s mostly harmless. It just drives benders a little crazy.”

“Yeah, I know.”

We thank the man and I rush the others to a place where we can talk more freely.

“What’s that ‘Blood Moon’ thing about?,” Katara asks.

“It’s a lunar eclipse,” I explain, taking off my hood now that we are covered by an alley wall. “Just like in the Day of the Black Sun the moon covers the sun, during the Blood Moon the sun passes through the moon’s orbit, but it doesn’t blackens it, it looks kind of red. That’s why it’s called ‘Blood Moon’.”

“And what is it that it does to firebenders?,” Aang questions.

“It intensifies our powers, but because of the unusual presence of the sun it makes us lose track of our senses. It feels kinda like being drunk.”

They all blink at me.

“Seriously?,” I say. (Puritans.)

“So what does that means then?,” Toph cuts in, “You’re gonna turn into some crazy zombie for the night?”

“Not the _entire_ night,” I clarify, “Only while the sun is passing through the moon’s path.”

“Should be put some barricades in front of your tent then?” Sokka points to some other men soldering cell bars into a window’s frame.

“I’ll be fine. But just in case…”

***

**Katara**

“Thanks for doing this for me, guys!” Zuko seems content now that we have tied him to a rock using Toph’s earthbending to shape a belt of yet smaller rocks binding him tightly against it.

“It’s our pleasure, Zuko,” Sokka says, “That’s what friends are for.”

“And we are going to take turns to keep you company during the night,” Aang reassures him with a smile.

“I thought it was to make sure he didn’t set the forest on fire,” Sokka not-so-mutters, which earns him a stomp of Toph’s foot. “Ouch!”

“We just want to make sure you stay safe for the night, Zuko,” I say, ignoring the scene to my side.

“I already told you I’ll be fine, the eclipse just makes benders act a little strange. I’m not really sure how that works.”

“Should I be tied down too?,” Aang looks worried, but not for Sokka still holding on to his damaged foot. “I mean, the whole Avatar stuff. Technically I am a firebender.”

“I’m not sure how much effect the eclipse has on inexperienced firebenders,” Zuko admits. “Maybe if you just go to bed early…”

Aang pouts.

“Darn. I wanted to stay awake to watch the eclipse. Especially with how beautiful the moon is tonight.” He looks up to the sky to stare at the grandiose full moon.

“It _is_ a bit funny that the eclipse happens during a full moon,” I point out, staring at it too.

***

**Zuko**

I’m tempted to tell Sokka that if he was planning on torturing me to keep me from “setting the forest on fire”, he could just have said so.

“So there were two dumplings in the oven,” he starts out with _another_ one of his jokes, “and one of them says ‘Ugh, it’s so hot in here’ and the other says ‘No way, a talking dumpling’!”

Silence.

“Difficult crowd,” he mutters with his arms crossed.

“At what time did you say it was your change of guard?”

“Right now,” Katara walks from her tent towards us.

“Katara!” The rocks tying me dig into my arms when I (try) launch forward to run hug her. ( _That’s_ how happy I am to see her now.) “My savior!”

“Sokka, what were you doing to Zuko?”

“Nothing, I was just practicing my new stand-up material with him.”

More silence.

“Go to sleep.” Katara points to his tent.

“Thanks for that,” I tell her when Sokka has already left.

“You poor thing, you have suffered too much for just one night.”

She sits down on yet another rock next to mine. “How are you feeling?”

“Good.”

“You sure? No weird firebending lunar eclipse energy going on?”

“It doesn’t starts until the eclipse begins.”

“What exactly is it that happens to firebenders during a lunar eclipse?”

“It’s like…,” I trail off, thinking on the only lunar eclipse I remember, when I was 6 and I burned the roofs in one of our family vacation houses. “It’s like we are suddenly struck with immense power, but not only for our bending but like there was an odd energy forming inside us. We don’t act like our usual selves. It’s like we couldn’t think clearly, and only our basic instincts were guiding us.”

“That sounds a little creepy,” Katara’s eyebrows go up, “We don’t have things like that on the Water Tribes.”

“Lunar eclipses are not something that happens in all parts of the world. They are even rarer than solar eclipses.”

“I wonder if waterbenders are affected by lunar eclipses, too?”

“Apparently we are about to find out,” I raise my gaze when I notice the strange shade of red the night has acquired.

**Katara**

A thin slice of red colors the border of the moon.

 _Real blood_. The moon emanates lively energy like a human body with heart and soul. _Beating heart._ The cut of blood makes her vulnerable and feeling. _Shared heart_. She welcomes the sun to inflict that vulnerability on her. To feed on her power. _Conjoined hearts._ For her to feel his.

**Zuko**

The sun burns even in the night, feeding on the moon.

Drinking of her presence and her aura. Feeling her. Driving strength from her. She is welcoming him into the night and the dark, for both of them create a new kind of light. Blood red light. To course through our human hearts.

Katara stands up from her rock and takes water out of her water vial. With an almost effortless move of her arm, she creates a cutting blade that slices the belt of rocks binding me.

“We have to go,” her voice is so honeyed is almost unrecognizable on her. She takes my hand on hers and yanks me to follow.

I don’t resist it.

“We are we going?”

“I think the eclipse wants to show us something.”

***

Katara and I race to wherever the eclipse is taking us. I mean that we _really_ race, we are running; though it feels more like flying or climbing a high mountain, so high that I almost can’t get any oxygen to my lungs, but I don’t care. I only care about the aura of power and liberty in the night and Katara next to me.

We finally get to a clear spot on a cliff with an imposing, beautiful waterfall; the sound of both of our heavy breathings and laughs gets to my ears like it is from somewhere too far away.

“I think we should be there,” Katara points from the border of the cliff to a crystalline lake that forms at the end of the waterfall and the Blood Moon reflects on it like a flawless mirror.

Figures.

“Okay.” I bend fire projectiles from my hands that help me jump from a set of higher rocks and down to the floor. Normally, I wouldn’t be able to create such strong projectiles like these. It’s all because of the Blood Moon.

When I get down, I watch Katara as she shapes the water to embrace her feet and make it like she could walk above it. Then she slides down through the cascade, making the water to flow slower around her in a pronouncedly waving current. She really looks like some sort of water spirit or goddess emerging from her element.

I catch and hold her when she gets down, giggling somewhat dumbly, like she was indeed drunk.

“That was fun,” she muses.

**Katara**

Zuko smiles back at me while I giggle like some kind of school-girl with a crush.

“So what do we do now?,” he asks me.

I look over at the moon. (It’s almost completely red now.) Then I look to the lake next to us.

“Let me see something,” I tell him.

He lets go of me and I bend a big wave of water from the lake, much more effortlessly than usual. I move it around a little. Then I apply pressure on it. And pressure. And pressure. And _pressure_ …

“Zuko, shoot fire to this,” I say.

“What?”

“Just do it, I think this is something that the eclipse wants us to do.”

I stare at the highly pressurized wave that I created for a moment, before I see Zuko’s flame crashing against it. And setting it on fire.

“Whoa!” Zuko yells from behind my back.

“Get a hold on the fire!,” I say.

He does, standing next to me as I keep the water flowing. The fire does not spreads too much to cover up the entire wave.

“Follow my lead,” I tell him.

I make the wave to move around some more, Zuko following my directions and avoiding the fire from spreading too much. We move together in perfect synchrony to play with the current around, snaking it and undulating it in the air.

“This is amazing! I’ve never seen anything like this!,” Zuko sounds awe-struck.

“I don’t think anyone ever could do anything like this,” I giggle again.

Zuko finally extinguishes the fire, and I heat the water until turn it into an insubstantial breathe of steam.

“Why didn’t you return it to the lake?”

“Pressurized water contaminates aquatic environments.”

“I didn’t know about that.”

I giggle once more at that, it seems like I can’t stop giggling in the entire night, like there’s something tickling me from the inside out, in my brain, in my stomach, in my chest, in my limbs.

I turn to look at Zuko. He’s still smiling too, much more relaxed than his usual self. On a far corner of my mind, I remember what he said about the Blood Moon making benders to act differently to their usual selves, and in that same corner of my mind, I think about how I prefer regular Zuko to any version of him.

That’s what my normal me thinks. But the me from right now likes this. This Zuko. This place. This power. This way that seems like we are both so lost that the only ones that can find us are each other. 

_Shared heart. Conjoined hearts._


	23. Talking (After the Rain)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Katara share a peaceful conversation as they await for the rain to stop.

**Zuko**

Katara and I stare into the cloudy sky as the drops continue to fall, yet not so heavily any more. My gaze drifts to the beach.

“I think Sokka will have to wait a while for his beach party,” I say. “The rain is gonna do nothing but attract globe-jellyfish to the coast.”

I shiver at the sole mental picture of those ungodly things. Bland squashy balls that grow stinging, electrocuting spines out of nowhere!

“Let’s wait a little to tell him that, he’s already really down because we didn’t have the party today.”

Far from being sad or disappointed, Katara looks dreamily at the droplets as they fall. She stretches her arm out, closing her eyes blissfully at the contact of the drops against her skin.

“Don’t you feel bad because you didn’t get to surf today?,” I wonder, staring at her unbelievably peaceful face. So relaxed and defined her features are, they seem made of porcelain.

“No. Well… maybe a little. But the rain is water, too. I’m still on my element.”

“I see…” I follow the drops falling from the sky and splashing against her skin.

“You should try to enjoy the rain a bit more, Zuko,” she says, “When the droplets fall against you, you feel like everything is alright in the world.”

I look at her face, and then at her arm and then at the falling raindrops again before outstretching my own arm. The water is cold, but not unpleasant; the wind makes it feel even frostier.

“The cold reminds me a little of the South Pole, you know.” Katara finally opens her eyes. They glow with melancholy.

“You miss your home a lot?”

I almost want to hit myself for that dumb question. _Of course_ she misses her home!

“Yes,” she doesn’t calls my silly question out, “sometimes I wish we had brought Gran-Gran with us when we first left. She would have loved to travel with us.”

Katara moves her arm round bending the raindrops into a snaking water current that she turns into an orb floating above her hand. “But apparently she had more experience in travelling than what she had told us.”

“What do you mean?” I withdraw my arm from the rain.

“At the North Pole, we found out she was from the Northern Water Tribe, but she moved to the South to escape an arranged marriage.”

“That sounds very brave,” I remark.

“Yes. But I wish she had told us more about it sooner.” She lets go of her hold over the water.

“Maybe that wasn’t something she wanted to remember in her new life,” I say. “My uncle doesn’t talks much about his life before the failed Siege of Ba Sing Se. I think he prefers to live as the person he is now instead of the person he used to be.”

“That actually sounds pretty wise,” Katara smiles faintly. Then she turns to me, “You never miss your home at the Capital City?”

I answer quickly: “No, never.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t miss dealing with Azula,” I stare blankly into the horizon, “Every time we talked it felt like an orchestrated mind game… Actually, it _was_ an orchestrated mind game.”

“And your father? He… uh… he…”

“We almost never see him,” I clarify. “He’s always in his throne room, and Azula and I are only convoked to his presence when strictly necessary. The rest of the time is… pretty much each one on their own.”

The sound of the wind and the extinguishing rain fill the silence between us.

“Hey, look, it stopped raining,” Katara looks up at the clearing sky. “I got an idea. Let’s go pick up Sokka and the others to cheer him up with another hide and seek game.”

She yanks at my arm excitedly for me to follow her inside the house.

I sigh, but I don’t resist. “Can’t he play _alone_ for a change?”

She smirks at me. “Zuko, when are you gonna learn that you are with _Team Avatar_ now? We _never_ do anything without each other!”


	24. Truth (You’re in love with him/her)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Katara are confronted by the ones around them about their feelings for each other.

**Zuko**

I feel the somehow familiar yet forgotten burning inside me when itching for a fight. For a scream. For anything that would let me take all of this anger and frustration and disappointment and… and… whatever, I just want to burn something!

But then why is it that I only keep running away from Azula, Mai and Ty Lee as they follow me around the beach?

“C’mon, Zuko, just tell us why you’re so angry lately.” I’m _really_ not in the mood to deal with my sister. “Aren’t you happy enough snuggling with Mai or something?”

“Azula, stop it!,” Mai cuts in (to defend herself, not me), but she’s quick to follow the conversation, “But she does has a point, Zuko, you have been out of control ever since we came back from Ba Sing Se, you barely even put any attention to me, and you look like you wanna punch stuff all day!”

“So what?,” I say, still giving my back to them while I try to run the hell away from here.

“ _So_ what has gotten into you?,” she emphasizes every word, yet still with a monotone voice as per usual. “If you’re not into us you could just say it!”

“Maybe you would prefer to have this conversation privately, Mai,” Ty Lee (bless her) intervenes.

“Hush, Ty Lee,” Azula says with sadistic amusement, “It’s always fun to watch relationship crises. But maybe you should reconsider, Mai. If Zuzu wasn’t into you, he wouldn’t have gotten all caveman with that guy at the party.”

“I didn’t get anything with anybody,” I grit out.

“Maybe just with the jar against which you threw him.”

“Azula, just shut up already!” I turn to them, confrontationally and breathing heavily. “All of you, _leave me alone_!”

**Katara**

“You can’t sleep, Katara?”

I drift my gaze from the stars to Toph’s voice. “No, not really,” I admit. “How did you know?”

“Your breathing is coming out too fast,” she explains. Figures.

“Sorry. Did I wake you up?”

“No, just like you haven’t been waking me up all the nights you haven’t slept since we left Ba Sing Se.”

I feel my blood running cold.

“At first I thought it was because of Aang,” her dark silhouette says as she sits on her sleeping mattress. _And it was_ , I want to tell her. “But you haven’t slept not even after he woke up… Is there anything you want to talk about?”

Silence.

“No, nothing,” I mutter into my pillow.

“I get that you always want to be the one that solves everything, Mom Friend, but let us, kids, give you a hand from time to time.”

**Zuko**

Azula’s face is in some way oddly bewildered and yet inexpressive. Like a really stretched piece of paper. I had never told her to shut up before.

“What the hell is _wrong_ with you?!,” Mai demands almost as angry I am feeling. Almost.

“ _Nothing!_ I just want all of you to go away!”

“Who do you think you’re talking to, Zuko?,” she retorts, “I’m your _girlfriend_! You can’t speak in such a way to me!”

 _Girlfriend_. Heavens, I _hate_ that word! I hate that it comes from her now! “Well, I never wanted you to be my girlfriend!”

Her naturally pale skin goes even whiter; but it’s easier to distinguish the change of color in Ty Lee’s more tanned one as they mirror each other backing off a step. “ _Excuse me?!_ ”

“I never wanted you to be my girlfriend, you don’t have to be my girlfriend. Problem solved!”

I turn to continue walking.

“Don’t you even dare to walk away from this!,” even everything that’s going on, Mai’s voice remains _irritatingly_ composed and unfeeling. “You never wanted me as your girlfriend? What is that supposed to mean? All the times that we kissed were just what? We were ‘friends-with-benefits’ all along? This is all some sort of sick game to you?”

“I don’t want to talk to you, Mai!”

**Katara**

“You sure you don’t want to talk?”

I hug my pillow tighter.

“What’s going on?” Sokka yawns powerfully when he wakes up.

“I’m trying to get Katara to have a meaningful conversation,” Toph answers.

“Did anybody say ‘meaningful conversation’?,” Aang wakes up out of nowhere, “I’m an expert at those!”

“Guys, really, I’m fine, go back to sleep,” I dig my face into my pillow, attempting for it to hide me from everything and everyone.

“C’mon, Katara,” Toph presses on, “We want to help you.”

**Zuko**

“Well, too bad, because you’re already talking to me!”

I hear Mai’s voice coming after me but I don’t turn, I just run off to behind a wall formed by the end of a cliff.

Maybe it’s just that I’m tired (or that I’m thinking more irrationally than I thought) but I stop there. I cross my arms, hoping that will keep the rest of the world away.

But it doesn’t. Mai comes around with her arms equally crossed and glaring at me so hard it’s hard to tell if her eyes are actually opened. “Would you _care_ to explain what is it that’s going on with you?”

I look away. “No.”

“Should have thought so,” she bites out. “But I _deserve_ such an explanation.”

I bite my lip.

“I deserve it, Zuko,” she repeats matter-of-factly, because she knows she’s right. I know she’s right. “If everything we had meant nothing to you, at least I deserve that much.”

I don’t look at her as I whisper: “I know.”

“Well then?”

**Katara**

“I am just…,” I trail off, unsure of how to continue further, “a little sad, that’s all.”

“You’re sad?,” Aang’s concerned voice breaks my heart. “What for?”

“I… uh… met someone when we were at Ba Sing Se,” I say. “Or at least I thought I knew him.”

“You met a boy?!,” Sokka exclaims in a somewhat of big brother tone that would sound better if it wasn’t for his slightly high-pitched voice, “Why didn’t you tell us?!”

“We spend very few time together,” my voice turns into a weak murmur. “I didn’t have the chance to tell you about him.”

“What was his name?”

“It doesn’t matter. He turned out to not be the person I thought he was.”

**Zuko**

“I’m sorry,” I whisper in a heavy sigh. My voice is low but I wish it could carry all of the weight I try my words to have. “I’m sorry for dragging you into all of this. I’m sorry for not being honest ever since the start. I just… I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“I think you simply weren’t thinking.”

“Probably,” I agree. “But I don’t… I didn’t… I never…”

“Zuko,” Mai raises a hand to stop me, to form a wall that will keep my nonsensical words from getting to her. “It’s because there’s someone else, isn’t it?”

Silence.

“How did you…?”

“Girls can tell those kind of things.” She shrugs uninterestedly. “So, are you going to tell me who she is? Maybe that Lower Ring girl from our first date?”

“Don’t call her that.”

“What?”

“Her name is Jin.”

Mai waves a dismissive hand. “Fine. Jin. She’s the girl you’re sulking for?”

“No,” I say still without looking at her.

“Then who is she?”

**Katara**

“Did he do something to you?” I feel Aang’s delicate hand comfortingly rubbing my shoulder. 

“Do you want us to track him down and teach him a lesson or two?” I hear Sokka’s small-as-pebbles fists crashing against each other.

“No,” I say. “It was my fault for trusting too fast.”

“That’s not true, Katara!,” Aang sounds almost personally offended.

“Thanks, Aang, but you guys weren’t there. I fell for façade. Just like with Jet.”

“Katara…”

“Guys,” I say crossly, “can we just go to sleep for the night? I do am really tired.”

I listen to their hesitant silence. And then it turns into the reluctant ruffling of sheets and pillows and the coldness of loneliness.

Toph’s sleeping mat is the one that’s the closest to me. I think she takes advantages of it, “When you said you fell for him… you mean you were in love with him?”

My small shrug makes my sheets to ruffle some more.

“You still are?”

I don’t answer. I don’t even move.

**Zuko**

“She was…,” I try to look for the right words, “She was a girl that I knew… I mean, she was a person that I used to know… I mean, she was… Never mind. But we had never talked much until before we left Ba Sing Se. But I… I gave my back to her. I think I hurt her.”

Mai stares at me silently. Her eyes are inscrutable, but that’s nothing new. “Were you in love with her?”

I freeze at the question.

But then I shrug.

“You still are?”

I don’t answer. I listen the silence filling with unsaid words.


	25. Warm me up (Forced to share a hotel room)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Avatar can't resist a special offer in a "bed and breakfast" inn. Too bad there aren't enough rooms for everyone...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loosely inspired by NA book "Jock Rule" by Sara Ney.

**Katara**

“C’mon, guys!,” Sokka makes a poor impersonation of puppy-eyes at us, “It’ll be only for _one_ night!”

“Sokka,” I say, “we can’t spend our money around like that,”

“But it’ll be only for _one_ night!” His high-pitched whines seem like they could break the windows of the small inn he’s so desperate for us to stay the night in.

“C’mon, it’s bed and breakfast at half-price!” He exuberantly gestures to the sign marking the special offer. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!”

Zuko and I roll our eyes in unison. “You’re exaggerating.”

“I gotta side with Captain Boomerang on this one,” Toph cuts in, “When was the last time we slept on actual beds? At this rate, we are all gonna suffer back problems in our teenage years.”

She rubs her back, and I relate a little for the dull ache I’ve been feeling on mine the last few days.

“And they have a barn where Appa can sleep, too!” Aang looks over some rocks that serve as part of the outer décor and points excitedly at the famous barn not so far in the distance.

He airbends back to reunite with us, making a much more convincing (and adorable) version of the puppy-eyes. “Can we stay here tonight? Pretty please?”

**Zuko**

_You gotta be kidding me_ , I think at the _awwwwww_ that Katara coos looking at Aang’s pleading face. “Well,” she taps her chin with her finger, eyeing the inn, “maybe we could…”

“Yes!” Aang, Sokka and Toph jump up and drag us to the door of the inn.

One would think I would get used to this kind of scenes over the last weeks. I haven’t. Maybe it’s just that I’m not a kids person, but dealing with three kids like this… How is it that people even _want_ to have children?!

We are received in the entrance by a friendly man who introduces himself as the innkeeper and he quickly answers Aang’s questions that he does can use the barn for Appa to spend the night, but he apologizes for kind of a bid detail: “I’m sorry, but I don’t think there are enough rooms for all of you.”

“What?” Sokka is horrified at the prospect of his ideal vacay to be ruined.

“Nearly all of the rooms are booked, I think there are only three available.”

“And how are the five of us share three rooms?,” I wonder out loud.

“Don’t worry, guys,” Aang says, “I can stay in the barn with Appa to keep him company. It’ll be just as comfortable.”

“Well, that’s minus one,” Toph mutters. “But it looks like two of us are gonna have to share a room.”

***

**Katara**

I would say that I wake up at the sound of the banging in the door of my assigned room… but I haven’t have time to sleep in the entire night because of the cold! _Prrrr!_ _Why aren’t there enough comforters in here?! People could freeze in their sleep!_

“Coming, coming!” I get off the bed, wrapping myself in the ridiculously thin blankets, and dragging my feet to the door.

Once I open it, I encounter Zuko with his arms crossed over his bare chest and a disgruntled look on his face. “Sokka kicked me out of the bed.”

“What?”

“He. _Literally_. Kicked me out of the bed! He started kicking in his sleep and he threw me off the mattress!”

I rub my eyes. “Zuko, it’s the middle of the night, could you wait until tomorrow to tell me the not-so-much-of-a-secret that Sokka isn’t a peaceful sleeper?

“I’m not going to keep sleeping in the same bed as _him_!”

“So you want to sleep in _my_ room?”

“I can sleep in the floor,” he pleads, “I wasn’t complaining about that earlier.”

An idea pops in my mind, waking me up enough to rejoice in my genius, “I got an idea!”

**Zuko**

“An idea about what?,” I ask.

Katara unwraps herself from the blankets she hauled from the bed, revealing her body in her white underwear. “You can sleep on my bed!”

 _What?_ “What?”

She grabs my hand and pulls me inside the room, towards the bed. “I’ve been _freezing_ the entire night!,” she explains. _And yet you took off your clothes_ , I would like to point out. “Your firebender body heat thing could fix that easily, and you need a bed to stay, right? Win-win for both of us!”

“Well, I…”

“Just get into the bed.” She sneaks over the mattress and between the blankets, making space for me to lay besides her.

I start to get what she meant with the freezing thing, the night is almost as icier as when we were around the Poles in winter. I blow a soft flame into the palm of my hand to warm them up.

I stretch myself in the mattress next to Katara. (It’s a luck that it is big enough for both us to fit in.)

Then, Katara scoots over next to me, almost _completely_ over me, her arm snakes to surround my waist – my shirtless torso – pressing the two of us together like we were one person, her head rests over my shoulders, and she throws her leg over my thigh tangling of both together.

“Whoa!” I don’t know if I shouted but right now I really don’t care. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Body heat, remember?” She doesn’t sounds even the least bothered. In fact, she sounds like she’s already half-asleep and drifting to a pleasant dream. “It was a fair trade. I let you sleep here, you let me warm me up, everybody gets what they want.”

“I don’t remember you squeezing me against yourself was part of the deal.”

“C’mon, Zuko, I need this. Can’t you _feel_ how cold my skin is?”

I can, actually. Because all of her bare skin is touching _my_ bare skin. From her legs, to her flat stomach, to her arms, to the modest _cleavage_ of her bra. It can feel it as it starts to warm up.

“Whoa,” she murmurs, amazed, “you’re even warmer than usual.”

“It’s because of the fire breathe,” I explicate.

“How does that works?” Katara’s hand slides from my sides roaming my abs and up to my chest softly caressing ad exploring there like she could find the answer to fire breathing like that.

I breathe in deeply, acutely aware of her hand on my pecs.

“It’s complicated,” I silently pray for self-control right now. “Let’s leave it like that.”

“How is it complicated?,” she continues to stroke my chest.

“Shouldn’t we be sleeping or something?”

“You get more grouchy than usual when you’re tired or what?”

I glare down at the top of her head.

She squirms even closer to me. “ _Mmmmmm…_ You feel so good.”

_Seriously?!_

I crash my head against the pillow. “Could you please don’t say that now?”

“Why not? Is a compliment.”

 _It’s not an appropriate compliment for the situation_. She really wants me to say that out loud?!

“Just… Never mind.”

“You really must be tired,” her hand continues to move, slowly slipping down my chest. “You’re not so build-up anymore,” she observes as the tip of her fingers flutter over my ribs, “You used to have more muscles.”

“My uncle and I had some rough times when we first got to the Earth Kingdom. We didn’t have luck asking for alms.”

“I’m sorry, Zuko,” she sounds sad.

“Don’t be. It helped me understand what the people outside the Fire Nation were going through.”

She raises her head to look at me, supporting her chin on my shoulder. Her breathe almost brushes my ear as she speaks. “I wish you would have joined us sooner. We, too, had some rough times, but at least we could go through those times together. It’s always better when you have your friends with you.”

Her eyes shine with sincerity even in the darkness of the night. “Well…,” I trail off, “Lately almost dying has been more fun with you guys around.”

I’m not sure what’s the normal response to _that_ , but Katara smiles, dipping her lips against my shoulder. “Great. Well, good night, Zuko.”

She rests her head on my shoulder again, and hugs me by the waist as she slides her feet down my calf.

“Right. Good night.”


	26. Together (Rainstorm)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Katara share an intimate moment during a rainstorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to give Zuko a break. I think he's had enough with all the cold showers he has had up until now, haha!

**Katara**

This is a disaster.

We were captured one by a pack of creepy Fire Nation assassins and when we _finally_ broke free, we got separated from one another. In the middle of the night. In a rainstorm.

This is _truly_ a disaster.

Zuko enlivens the bonfire, I can notice for the way the walls of the cave light up in blinding yellow and red as I stare at the ceiling.

“You think the others are okay?” I didn’t mean to ask the question out loud, but the words leave my lips almost without me noticing.

“I’m sure they are.” I feel Zuko’s heat when he sits next to me. Lately, I’ve been noticing that I can clearly distinguish the heat of his skin when he’s close.

“You know when was the last time we got separated?”

“No.”

“The day before you and I were imprisoned in the Crystal Catacombs.” I lower my head, looking at the ground instead. “Things went pretty downhill after that, didn’t they?”

“This isn’t like that time, Katara,” Zuko sounds concerned, desperate and pleading at the same time.

Desperate for me to believe him, pleading for me to believe him.

I cringe a little at the powerful, whipping lightning that strikes outside, though I can’t tell if it is far away or close to our cave.

“This reminds a little of when I first tried to redirect lightning,” Zuko mutters, looking towards the rain falling heavily to the earth.

“How so?”

“I climbed a mountain during a rainstorm like this one,” he explains, “and started yelling at the sky to strike me with a lightning.”

I blink, dumbfounded. “What?”

“I was angry because whenever I tried I just made an explosion that blew up in my face,” now it is Zuko the one that looks down. I wonder if the gesture made me look as embarrassed and defeated as he looks. “So I started shouting that it was a good time for the sky to strike me… because it had never showed me mercy before.”

Silence. The bonfire blazes but the sound seems to come from too far away.

Zuko indeed looks defeated, as though surrendering in front of the mere memory, with his head and his hair hanging low, humiliating himself in front of it. His face seems more fragile and paler, like he was somehow sickly or older than he is, even the skin of his scarred eye appears to be darker and more wrinkled and folded than usual.

“It didn’t work,” he concludes, straightening himself again. “I think the sky didn’t believe me worthy of it.”

“Don’t say that, Zuko,” I say.

“It’s okay.” He seems more relaxed now, “I got better after it. In lightning redirection and in other things. My uncle used to say that sometimes you must go through great pain and despair, and maybe even great fear, to complete a journey that would take you to greater times of joy and success.”

I stare at him.

“I really didn’t get what he meant at first,” he goes on, “but now I think I do.”

I continue to stare at him. I stare at his eyes, noticing how their color seems even livelier than the flaming bonfire.

“Thanks, Zuko.”

He turns to me. “For what?”

“For being the way you are.”

He looks like my answer caught him by surprise. “Oh… You’re welcome! I wouldn’t know how to be someone else.”

“I know,” I smile.

And then I lean forward and kiss him softly.

It’s not really much, it’s just like a long touch (a caress) of my lips against his.

When I back off, it’s just enough to press our foreheads together. Zuko’s skin is soft and even warmer than forever, as if he had fever, but the heat is more pleasant, accompanied by an energy in him that makes him feel more peaceful than his usual self.

I don’t notice who’s the one that moves first, but when we kiss again is just as softly but longer and more fluent. Reciprocal. Giving and taking. Like we both feel together. I like the way Zuko’s bottom lip is just slightly fuller than his upper lip; his mouth is just as soft as the rest of his skin, and growing hotter.

The lightning and thunder seem to vanish into the dark when I cup his jaw with my hands. The fire is nothing compared to how heated his skin is now.

_Zuko…_


	27. United heartbeats (Heartbeat)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara walks in to Zuko changing his clothes, and sees the ever unforgettable scar on his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title and plot loosely inspired by the song lyrics of "Juntos" ("Together") by the venezuelan group "La Melodía Perfecta" ("The Perfect Melody").
> 
> "Sobrepasamos la escala de todos sonidos, latidos unidos. Tu pecho conmigo. Tú le llamas paz, yo le llamo amor."
> 
> "We surpass the scale of all sounds, united hearbeats. Your chest with me. You call it peace, I call it love."

**Katara**

(Admittedly, I don’t wait for him to answer after I only give a ridiculously light knock at the door.) “Zuko, are you…?”

I freeze when I step into the room – my hand still on the doorknob – and my eyes irremediably fall to the still fleshy, red scar on his exposed chest.

“Katara!” He grabs the shirt splayed in his royal bed to cover himself. “Can you at least close the door faster when you get in like that?!”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” I close the door behind me. (I almost forget how worked up he gets whenever the servants see us acting “less-than-royally-formal”.)

He throws the shirt back to the bed after I turn again. “Right. Hey! What’s up?”

“I saw the royal consulters throwing a coin to decide who would tell you that you were scheduled for another speech tomorrow on top of the meetings you have,” I say nonchalantly as I walk to sit on the bed. “I said I would tell you for them.”

Zuko groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Ugh! And they waited until _now_ to tell me?!”

“Probably that’s why they were throwing a coin to tell you,” I point out.

“I think I should look for better consulters.”

“Where have I heard that before? Oh, yes! Toph has been saying it for _months_.”

He facepalms himself. “Don’t tell her.”

I smile, fighting back a laugh. “I won’t.”

Almost without me noticing, my eyes fall back to the lightning scar in Zuko’s chest. And suddenly all of the memories from that day rain over me.

It’s funny how the memory works. Sometimes I can’t remember anything about that precise moment, sometimes I picture the surroundings pitch black and inexistent, and other times dark and illuminated at the same time, but all I can remember vividly is Zuko jumping in front of me and a terrifying flash of blinding light hitting against him.

After that, it felt like the world vanished into an unpleasant white. And then there was Zuko lying on the floor clutching to his chest. That’s the moment when I remember everything blood red.

“Katara,” Zuko’s voice yanks me back to my senses, “You are doing it again.”

“Sorry, sorry,” I stand up from the bed to shake off the shock, passing my hands down my face, “I was just… thinking.”

“It’s okay,” Zuko’s voice is knowledgeable and understanding, the one that you use when you know exactly what someone is feeling.

“Does it still hurts?,” I ask when I approach him, delicately placing a hand over the wound above his sternum. (I have learned a lot about formal medicine ever since then.)

I can feel his heart beating healthy and powerful.

“No,” he answers simply, “Not anymore.”

The more I stare a t the wound, the bigger the messy vortex of resentment and sadness gets inside me.

“I wish I could have done something sooner,” I whisper, more to myself than to him. The tip of my fingers flutter over the piece of abraded skin.

_I wish I hadn’t stood there._

_I wish I could have protected you._

Zuko’s warm fingers wrap around my hand. His eyes are soft as they meet mine.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

When we kiss it feels relieving, after approaching our lips painfully slowly.

Kissing Zuko _always_ feels relieving and exciting, like coming home and entering a brand new adventure. (One more on top of the near-to-death experience we have had.)

I place my hands on his toned, hot chest as he surrounds my waist with his muscled arms and pulls me closer. The familiar increase of his body heat feels like a real fire growing inside him. A fire that trespasses to me. I can’t distinguish whose gasps fill the air around us, if mine or his, we are so close it’s actually hard for me to tell where one of us ends and the other starts.

I can feel Zuko’s heart beating strongly and resoundingly against my own chest, like it was trying to break free from his ribcage and trying to get to me.

“Zuko,” I gasp.

“Katara.”


	28. Family and Ancestors (Ancient)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko takes Katara to a special visit to the Fire Sages Capital Temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday was a rough day for me, but I thought a nice way to end my first time participating in Zutara Month would be posting two chapters at once!

**Katara**

I prop my chin on Zuko’s shoulder as he continues to ride Druk to… wherever. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” he says simply. “There’s something I want to show you.”

I shrug and continue to stare at the oh-so-distant ground as we keep flying.

The difference shouldn’t be so obvious, but it’s different flying on Druk than flying on Appa. First of all, Appa’s saddle is big enough to carry all six of Team Avatar, and Appa also tends to fly just slightly slower than Druk.

_Adrenaline-craving dragon!_

I smile fondly at the thought.

Besides, when flying on Appa I don’t have to put my arms around Zuko’s waist… That makes it even harder to tell with which one I like to fly the most.

Zuko finally lands Druk on a rocky island with a great Fire Nation Temple as its only building.

“What is this place?,” I ask, admiring the edifice.

“The Fire Sages Capital Temple.”

Zuko jumps off from Druk and helps me get down.

“Druk, stay,” he tells him before we turn to get into the temple…

And then we feel the obvious breath of a dragon’s nose walking behind us.

Zuko turns again. “ _Stay_.”

Druk somewhat frowns – though it’s hard to tell with his natural angry-dragon face – but he lays down with a reluctant grunt on the floor.

“So, you brought me to visit the Fire Sages?” I arch an eyebrow as we approach the entrance.

“I told you, I brought you here to show you something. Wait and see.” He takes my hand for both of us to rush to the doorway.

Zuko’s oddly more relaxed than his usual self. He already has been more upbeat ever since we brought Ursa, Noren and Kiyi, but it looks like something happened lately that made him glowing. Literally. His skin glows ethereally in the light of the sunset.

The Fire Sages receive us and bow in synchrony to Zuko.

“It’s an honor to have you here, Fire Lord, Zuko.”

They bow to me next.

“And you too, Master Katara. You look splendidly beautiful today.”

“Even _more_ splendidly than other days.”

“Thanks,” I say, ducking my head to hide a blush.

“Please, accompany us.”

“Actually,” Zuko cuts in, “I would prefer if I could take Katara alone for this.”

I arch my eyebrow again as the Fire Sages bow, agreeing. “As you wish, Fire Lord.”

“C’mon, Katara, it’s this way.”

Still holding my hand, Zuko pulls me gently to follow him around the corridors until we get to one of the floor gates that open with the Sage’s flames. He opens it by himself by throwing fire the same way the Sages do. It opens and reveals a row of dark, archaic stairs.

“You know,” I say as we descend, “If we were going to come through an underground tunnel, you could have told me so I wouldn’t wear one of the silk dresses that _you_ – by the way – ordered for me.”

“Don’t worry, we are almost there.”

He raises a flame in his hand for us to see ahead. When we reach the end of the stairs, he throws some more flames into the darkness, lighting up hanging torches and revealing a road of walls covered with ancient inscriptions, patterns and carvings, all of them with native colors from the Fire Nation that seem more mysterious and appealing under the light of the fire.

“Whoa!” My eyes widen at the sight. “What is this?”

“It’s the burial chamber of the past Fire Lords.”

“This is what you wanted to show me.”

“There’s a member of my family I want you to meet.”

He guides me around the antique corridors and I can’t help but gape at the walls with the different designs. In some way, this reminds me a little of the graves of Oma and Shu.

I don’t know how much time we spend walking until Zuko takes me to a much dug chamber than the others. We step inside; me, a little hesitant to get into such a solemn place.

There’s a tomb in the middle of the vast room.

“This is the grave of the very first Fire Lord,” Zuko explains once we get in.

“Really?”

“Remember when Aang and I came here to investigate the Kerumikage?”

“How could I forget? _I_ had to get a handle on the Palace when the children of the guards started to go missing.”

“Right,” he smirks timidly and a little awkwardly. “Sorry about that, by the way. But we encountered the purified spirits of the real Kerumikage then. They explained us that it was the first Fire Lord the one that ended their former sadness, by unifying the lands and creating the Fire Nation.”

“Whoa!” I turn to the tomb with newfound appreciation. “That’s a beautiful.”

“The Kerumikage showed me that there’s even more goodness in my blood than what I thought,” he explains. “I feel bad for not knowing much about this part of my family – I don’t even know my ancestors names – but I wanted you to meet them.” He turns to me, fully smiling now, but still timidly. “I… I wanted to share this with you.”

I take one his hands, stopping its nervous flailing. I bring his knuckles to my lips. “I’m happy to meet your family, Zuko.”


	29. I want to be there for you (Crown)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Katara have a heart-to-heart the day of his coronation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed Zutara Month!!

**Katara**

I get a feeble perception of the light entering through the window.

I turn away from it, shifting my side on the bed and feeling my hand fall against the mattress. The empty mattress…

I gasp: “Zuko!”

The royal bedroom chamber is beautifully decorated, but empty.

Inexplicable panic spikes through me making my breathing difficult and my chest to heave as I get a blurry, unclear recall of the past few days. _Azula. Agni Kai. Lightning. Zuko…_

_Today is Zuko’s coronation. Last night I fell asleep here after healing him some more._

_He’s alright._

_We are alright._

_Safe, at least._

A soft groan breaks through my thoughts. I jump off the bed and turn over one of the walls to another spot in the chamber. (When these royals say “chamber” they mean “ _chamber”_. This place is a palace inside the Palace!)

“Zuko!”

I run to him but stop midway to not tackle him to the ground.

“Katara,” he smiles at me, brightly and half-apologetically, “Good morning. Sorry. Did I wake you up?”

“No, no, I just… You weren’t in bed when I woke up.”

“Right. Sorry. I really didn’t want to wake you up.” His fingers clutch at the wound spot on his core covered by the bandages. “I wanted to see if I could dress by myself again.”

The panic eases until it vanishes and I sigh relieved. (My breathing suddenly became steadier.)

“Let me help you with that,” I can feel a faint smile forming on my lips.

I help him get his arms through the sleeves of his new royal robes, and then I tie the belt around his waist. When I’m done, I delicately place my hand over the injury on his chest.

“How you feeling.”

“Better,” he answers, returning my faint smile. “Thanks to you, of course. I appreciate you taking so much care of me – of my wound.”

“It’s the least that I can do,” I say, “I’m the one that got you wounded in the first place.”

“ _Azula’s_ the one that got me wounded. I’m just glad she didn’t hurt you as well.”

I flutter my fingers over the injury.

“You ready to be crowned Fire Lord, your Fireiness?” I grin, jokingly.

“I think so. Yes. No. I think so,” he repeats. “I guess a part of me still does not believes what my uncle said about unquestionable honor.”

“ _I_ believe it,” I assure him. “We all believe it for you.”

He blushes. “Thanks.”

“You have already done a lot of good things as the new Fire Lord,” I remind him. “You stopped the conquer of Ba Sing Se, and you released all of our friends from prison.”

“Yeah. I got thank you letters from both Ty Lee and Mai. Ty Lee said she wouldn’t miss my coronation for anything in the world.”

Silence.

“What did Mai say?”

He snickers softly. “She said thanks, but it would not be enough for us to get back together. She said she needed some time away from the Fire Nation and its politics for a while.”

“Oh... Good for her. I guess.”

“Good for her, indeed. She hates politics.”

“I see.”

We fall silent once more, but this silence feels different. Like the air around us stretched uncomfortably. I still have my hand on Zuko’s chest, feeling his heart beat. The slightly unpleasant silence makes me feel like I should take it away but somehow I… can’t.

I just can’t.

“Zuko, I…”

“Katara, I…”

We close our mouths in synchrony, too.

“You go first,” he says.

“Thanks. Listen, I…” I pause. “I know that you and I had a complicated relationship for quite some time, but I… I’m happy that we could solve it out, and… I am grateful to you, Zuko. You helped overcome something that had been haunting me for many years and to give me a new perspective about the world and the people in it. And of course I am grateful that you saved my life, but I am most grateful that you helped all of us to end the war.”

I pause again, to remember myself at the South Pole, the day we all flew away to start our journey.

“Ever since the beginning I believed we could win at the end, but now I know you were always part of that plan and that victory, and that we couldn’t have achieved it without you. So, thank you. For… for being there. And… for everything.”

Zuko’s heartbeat increased with each word that I spoke. It hammers against his ribcage and my palm.

“I don’t deserve those thanks,” he says, almost whispers, “But I want to thank you too, Katara. You were the first person that treated me – the real me – with kindness in quite a long time. And I know that makes me even a more despicable traitor for turning against you even after that.”

“Zuko…”

“I’ve tried but… I don’t consider myself redeemed after that,” he continues. “After knowing you and the rest I learnt what real goodness is, and I want to work to achieve that kind of goodness myself. I want to keep redeeming myself to your eyes, Katara; I want to earn that forgiveness that I don’t deserve.”

“Zuko.” I hug him around the waist, careful to not crush him. “I forgive you.”

He hugs me back. “That’s because you’re very kind.” I can hear the smile on his voice.

“No,” I say, “It’s because you’re very noble, and brave, and honorable. I believe that you always have been, only that you couldn’t see it then, and you can’t see it now either. But I see that light in you. I want you to see that light in yourself too.”

I back off a little, and put a hand behind his head to pull him down and press our foreheads together.

“I want to show you that light. I want to be there when you see it.”


End file.
